Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 199 I am not a monk

That night at the Shen Mansion, Zhang Wenda was struck by lightning after hearing what he said.

"Your Majesty not only does not ask for punishment, but also wants to ask Li Zhi for advice?" He could not imagine such an outcome. "Isn't Your Majesty worried..."

"If anyone thinks that Your Majesty wants to change his ways in learning and become disloyal, then they should be disloyal." Shen Yi Guan answered truthfully, "Do you understand? Your Majesty says that this is a stupid crime."

"This……"

Zhang Wenda sat on the chair as if he had collapsed, and looked at Shen Yikuan expectantly: "Prime Minister, don't you and Shen Taichang have..."

"......Alas." Shen Yi Guan sighed deeply, "The dispute over knowledge is fake. The officials and gentry who can obey the imperial decree and strictly implement preferential treatment and exemption are the ones who have learned the right way. Do you understand?"

"...Wouldn't that be counterproductive?" Zhang Wenda clenched his fists.

"The Ming Dynasty... can't go back." Shen Yi Guan shook his head slowly, then smiled bitterly, "As the Prime Minister, I am neither as good as Ru Mo in managing culture and education, nor as good as Yuan Yu in presiding over the new policy. It's time to retire..."

"Prime Minister!" Several people in the Shen family's flower hall were immediately shocked. "At this time, how can you have the heart to retire? The world still relies on the Prime Minister to protect the wind and rain..."

"I have long wanted to retire. If the situation was not dire and I was not worried about the country, how could I have stayed here until now?" Shen Yi Guan looked at them, "My old body is weak and I am really powerless this time. Your Majesty, if you don't see the achievements of the new policy and don't encounter a great disaster, the new policy will definitely go further. Everyone, make plans early."

In the natural change of the situation, he changed from the leader of the Zhejiang Party to the leader of the Old Party, and now he is disrupting the morale of the Old Party.

If Shen Yikuan was determined to resign, and Shen Shixing, who could have pursued another career, had always been a conciliatory centrist, would the old party continue to lose its morale?
But Shen Yikuan knew that his stage mission had been completed. The emperor pointed out that he should not use Li Zhi's personal morality to attack him, which was to point out that he should pay attention to his own personal morality.

He didn't need to remind these people that there would be no problem if they obeyed the order and showed their loyalty and ability through practical actions. They were basically smart people. If he reminded them, wouldn't it be a "rebellion" on the surface?

But it was only after he returned to his hometown that he was able to implement preferential treatment and exemptions by "submission" and satisfy the emperor with the huge demonstration effect of retiring the prime minister.

How can a new policy be successfully implemented without getting rid of one or two top officials?
The next day, Shen Yikuan handed in his resignation, but the emperor tried to keep him.

Li Zhi entered the city that day, and Shen Yikuan submitted another letter of resignation. The emperor personally tried to retain him at the court meeting the next day.

But just after the court was dismissed, the emperor summoned Li Zhi, Duke Yansheng, cabinet ministers, and the Minister of Rites to appear in court, and also left Zhang Wenda behind.

So Shen Yikuan reported his illness directly to the cabinet, took out a letter of resignation, left the palace and went home.

Inside the Yangxin Palace, Zhu Changluo remained silent for a long time as he looked at the third letter from Shen Yikuan that Tian Yi hurriedly handed to him.

Kong Shangxian was deeply moved, and looked at the bald Li Zhi with resentment.

The Yuan Fu was just about to write a letter to express his dissatisfaction with the emperor's summons to Li Zhi.

His resolute resignation showed that he was unwilling to debate with him.

"If the Prime Minister does this, how many more resignations will be submitted to the court?" Zhu Changluo sighed, "Master Zhuo Wu, I want to see you. There is a sudden disturbance in the court."

"Your Majesty, I call myself Zhuo Wu, but I am not a monk." Li Zhi corrected him, "I also drink alcohol and eat meat. I shaved my head because I was too lazy to comb it. I live in the Buddhist temple just to live in peace. Your Majesty wants to see me, but the Prime Minister wants to resign. That's because he is too obsessed with fame and has too many supporters. It has nothing to do with me."

“Your body and hair are given by your parents. You are neither a Confucian, nor a monk, nor a Taoist…”

Kong Shangxian immediately scolded him. After all, Li Zhi was the biggest enemy of his Kong family. If Confucius was just a mediocre person, then why would his descendants enjoy the respect of generations?
Li Zhi just glanced at him and was too lazy to argue with him.

The level is too low.

He just looked at the emperor with great curiosity.

So many people were called here, were they here to listen to a debate? Li Zhi was not interested.

What will he do now that the Prime Minister has resigned one after another?
He said that there were many more resignations to be submitted in the court, and it seemed that they were inclined to allow him to retire. He was already thinking about what would happen after Shen Yikuan left office.

"Duke Yansheng, please be patient."

Zhu Changluo stopped Kong Shangxian and then looked at Shen Shixing.

Let them remind Kong Shangxian to refute Li Zhi with practical actions. Why is he just talking nonsense here, and what he says is very superficial.

After the Yangxin Palace had quieted down, Zhu Changluo continued to look at Shen Yikuan's resignation letter.

Although he just used old age and illness as an excuse, there was still a tacit understanding between the king and his subjects.

Zhu Changluo knew what he wanted to exchange and what he wanted to give in exchange.

If the resignation is approved, it means that he has followed the normal retirement process and will receive retirement benefits. At least he will not be among the gentry under examination.

He and the others who followed him resigned because they were dissatisfied with the emperor's learning from heretics. After returning, they kept their tails between their legs and cleaned up their own stains. Is that normal? On the one hand, they avoided being liquidated, and on the other hand, they showed the emperor's strength and determination.

Of course, it would be best for Zhu Changluo not to really settle accounts with them, otherwise it would further dishearten the officials and gentry throughout the world.

Everyone knows how to measure themselves.

"Pass on the order. The Prime Minister, at the age of seventy, is responsible for the heavy burden of state affairs..."

Zhu Changluo issued an edict, and of course he did not say it was because of Li Zhi's matter, but because Shen Yiquan was indeed old and in poor health. According to the order of retiring as the chief minister, he would be given all the honors he deserved, such as additional titles, favors, and rewards.

But when Kong Shangxian and Zhang Wenda heard this, they just felt lost and at a loss.

As the Prime Minister, are you going to leave so easily?

Zhang Wenda felt that Shen Yikuan had really shot himself in the foot this time, and therefore became even more worried about his own fate - after all, he impeached Li Zhi based on Shen Yikuan's advice.

He didn't know that Shen Yikuan had actually wanted to retire a long time ago, but had just delayed it for more than a year.

Everyone witnessed the official departure of the Prime Minister of the Cabinet. What was unexpected was that Chen Ju suddenly came to report.

"Your Majesty, Duke Dingguo has passed away..."

"What?" Zhu Changluo was surprised. "Why suddenly..."

During the discussion of Changminghao in the twelfth month of the previous year, Xu Wenbi had already shown signs of old age, so he was allowed not to attend court this year. But recently, there was no news that he was seriously ill.

Chen Ju replied, "The palace said that he fell down this morning, but he died in less than an hour." The Minister of Rites Zhu Guozuo said solemnly, "Your Majesty..."

Zhu Changluo remained silent and waved his hand: "Handle the funeral according to the etiquette, the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan can go and do his work first."

Zhu Guozuo felt relieved and left immediately.

Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue were also very surprised, and felt a little depressed.

After all, he is someone I have dealt with for so many years.

And today, the Prime Minister was allowed to retire, the head of the civil officials left the court, and the head of the military officials passed away.

Kong Shangxian stared at Li Zhi and wanted to say that this person was unlucky.

The power of this jinx is a bit too great!
He did not speak, but Zhang Wenda, who had submitted a petition to impeach Li Zhi, could not get away. Seeing that the emperor had even approved the resignation of the Prime Minister, he felt very dangerous, so he took advantage of the emperor's deep thought and spoke: "Your Majesty, this person has always spread heresy, and now he has been blessed to appear before the emperor and make an appeal. Duke Dingguo has passed away without illness. This is a warning from God..."

It would have been fine if Zhang Wenda hadn't spoken, but when he did, Shen Shixing felt something was wrong and Zhu Changluo's face suddenly darkened.

"Will there be another natural disaster this year? Will the government and the opposition say that the new policies are ruining the country and that the celestial phenomena are a warning?"

"...Your Majesty...Your Majesty..." Zhang Wenda made a wrong bet, so he could only kneel down, "That's not what I meant..."

"Then what do you mean?" Zhu Changluo was in a bad mood, staring at him and asked, "What do you mean by linking the death of Duke Dingguo with my summoning him for questioning?"

Li Zhi sighed, then just shook his head helplessly, but seemed not to care.

It was such a coincidence that he was inevitably involved in two more rumors. One of the rumors was true, and the other was false. How could he explain it?
Zhang Wenda committed a stupid crime in front of him. Zhu Changluo calmed down and waved his hand: "You are confused because of the situation. I am too lazy to blame you. Duke Dingguo passed away and the court was suspended for three days. You should also go to pay your respects. Please leave first."

Li Zhi was about to leave, but Zhu Changluo said, "Li Zhi, stay."

Shen Shixing paused as he was about to step out, but in the end he said nothing.

But after leaving the Yangxin Palace, he said to Wang Xijue: "You should persuade the officials in Beijing not to cause trouble at this time and learn from Shen Jianwu to resign."

"It's not something that Rumo and Shen Jianwu can persuade." Wang Xijue saw through it.

Shen Shixing nodded.

Now that the emperor has pointed it out, they can't really allow so many resignations to appear in the court.

It would have been fine if Duke Dingguo had not died suddenly. But now that he has passed away suddenly, if there really were many resignations in the court, it would seem that Li Zhi would be labeled a heretic and an evil star.

This is not the right thing to do.

Xu Wenbi, who was supposed to die in June, died a month earlier, and Zhu Changluo didn't know that he died earlier. For Zhu Changluo, this was a coincidence.

Looking at Li Zhi, he said, "I could have ignored it, but now that I have summoned you here, I have caused a stir for you."

Li Zhi was a little surprised, then shook his head: "I'm used to it all my life."

Zhu Changluo sent Tian Yi to express condolences to Xu Wenbi and reward the Xu family on his behalf. On the one hand, he was thinking about the impact of the death of his chief meritorious official, and on the other hand, he also wanted to digest his complicated feelings.

"Speak freely." Zhu Changluo gave Li Zhi a seat, "I want to hear your opinion."

Li Zhi hesitated for a moment, then said bluntly: "Your Majesty, it would be bad if it got out if you were alone."

"Are you a person who looks ahead and behind?"

"Everyone says that I have no respect for the emperor's power, but I actually hope that there will be another sage emperor. I praise the First Emperor as the greatest emperor of all time, and I say that the sage Empress Wu Zhao made her own decisions and was wise and good at making decisions. I respect the Taizu as the greatest emperor of all time." Li Zhi said frankly, "Your Majesty, why don't you think of me as someone who flatters the emperor and father, and now think of your majesty a little more? As for my life's learning experience, your majesty would like to know. I have volumes such as "Collecting Books" and "Burning Books."

Zhu Changluo found it interesting: "Isn't it worse to move your writings to the emperor than to leave them alone?"

"Your Majesty has summoned me to see him, so what's so strange about bringing some books to read? On the contrary, who knows whether Your Majesty has read them or not? If you insist on me speaking, how long will it take? My eloquence is enough to make many people accuse me of deceiving the people. If Your Majesty listens to it until midnight, wouldn't it make people worry that Your Majesty will sit in vain in the middle of the night?"

"So are they afraid that I will ask the common people or the ghosts and gods?"

"It's all the same." Li Zhi sighed, "The Taizhou lineage writes books and teaches for the common people, which is no different from evil spirits and demons."

"Well then." Zhu Changluo stood up and bowed, "Let me first see what kind of evil ghost you are."

Li Zhi also stood up to return the greeting, thinking about the new emperor he had heard about in the throng of people living in Tongzhou.

He is really young, but he also appears to have an unusual clarity of mind.

It sounds strange to put the two words "sir" and "evil spirits and demons" together.

"Your Majesty's reputation is not much better than mine now." He suddenly said something extra.

"I know." Zhu Changluo nodded.

"...I used to think that I was as muddleheaded as a dog before I was fifty." Li Zhi looked at him strangely, "Your Majesty doesn't seem to care about reputation."

Zhu Changluo just said: "I am the emperor, I don't have to compromise."

Li Zhi sighed and bowed: "Indeed, it is incomparable."

After saying that, he left.

Compared with the emperor, this is already a great rebellion, but he seems to understand the problem.

He did not even mention sending his books to the palace, as if the emperor could do it as a matter of course.

At the Six Departments Corridor, Li Zhi was soon seen leaving the palace again, and the emperor did not chat with him for too long.

Zhu Changluo was still pondering Li Zhi's performance. Could it be that this guy admired ruthless characters like Qin Shihuang, Wu Zetian, and Zhu Yuanzhang?
Of course, he had some understanding of Li Zhi, but he didn't know that Li Zhi actually praised Zhu Yuanzhang as the greatest emperor of all time, even surpassing Qin Shihuang, the greatest emperor of all time.

How come this Ming Taizu bootlicker was labeled as having no respect for imperial authority?

(End of this chapter)