Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 200: Being an emperor means being fair and just
The Prime Minister left the court and the Duke passed away.

No one knew what the emperor said to Li Zhi during the short period of time when he was left alone.

Afterwards, Li Zhi was simply arranged to live in a temple.

It is not uncommon to live in a temple. Officials and scholars traveling to and from the capital all like to stay overnight in temples.

Zhang Wenda said in front of the emperor that Xu Wenbi was killed by Li Zhi, and the emperor scolded him. However, Shen Yiguan's resignation was indeed because the emperor not only did not punish Li Zhi but summoned him to Beijing, and Xu Wenbi did die on the day Li Zhi entered the palace.

They all said that he accidentally fell when he got up in the morning.

Although it is inevitable that this might happen as I am old and my legs become weak or I get too excited, it is indeed too coincidental.

Therefore, what Zhang Wenda expressed in front of the emperor not only caused discussion among the people, but also some officials took advantage of the topic to make more comments.

Whether submitting a memorial or a memorial, there should be room for maneuver.

During the three days when court was suspended, and on the seventh day after Xu Wenbi's death, some people did submit their resignations.

Sixteen people to be exact.

Although this number only accounts for a few tens of the officials in Beijing, there are sixteen of them after all, and five of them are academic officials who have just been selected to teach at the Imperial College.

Zhu Changluo certainly did not like these sixteen people, so he did not try to keep them, but he also did not grant them permission.

Just stay in China.

The next task was left to Shen Shixing.

It's enough to resign to express your attitude and gain some reputation. If you keep doing this again and again, then just go back.

Fortunately, Li Zhi seemed to be forgotten and the emperor did not think of him again.

In the Forbidden City, Zhu Changluo finally heard about the crazy behavior of the Changxing County Magistrate. He knew that the Jiangnan inspection and exemption had entered an important stage, and he also received Xie Tingzan's secret report.

This guy actually wanted to target Zhejiang Provincial Vice-Chairman Chen Jingji, and said directly that Zhejiang had a lot of problems over the years. Chen Jingji was just a key official in Zhejiang. Zhejiang was more arrogant, of course, because Shen Yiquan was in the cabinet.

Xie Tingzan didn't know that Shen Yikuan had retired.

Then after Shen Yikuan returned to his hometown, he personally set an example to strictly implement preferential treatment and exemptions to avoid being purged by the emperor, and there would be no major problems in Zhejiang.

In the past, officials enriched themselves through the Ningbo Maritime Customs, the canal and various other channels, but this is not considered a major problem now.

Seeing that Shu Boqing had failed to force any family to rebel in Changxing County, Zhu Changluo had a better understanding of the situation in Jiangnan.

Just as I had analyzed before, the Ming Dynasty is now at least "military power is strong", and there are no obvious internal or external troubles.

With the combination of kindness and severity, even if there are still some troubles, they will not be big.

In the second year of Taichang, the Ming Dynasty did not yet have the soil that would allow a rebellion to succeed. The last emperor from a thousand-year-old family in Bozhou who rebelled had only had two crops of grass growing on his grave.

So Zhu Changluo actually spent a lot of time reading Li Zhi's writings.

The old monk is lying.

The Collection of Books has 68 volumes, which is a historical essay in the form of chronicles. The old monk commented on more than 800 celebrities from the Warring States Period to the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Each of them had his own views, which were very different from traditional views, and each of them was to oppose the current Confucianism.

This is quite interesting to watch, after all, it is an evaluation of celebrities one by one.

But the twelve volumes of Chutan Collection and the six volumes of Book Burning seem much more daunting. And the old monk was known for his "ink and brush were always moist, and the inkstone was always wet" throughout his life, so the amount of words that came out of the water is frightening.

Fortunately, Li Zhi opposed the retro style of writing and advocated "childlike innocence" and "truthfulness and truthfulness" in his creation. It did not seem too difficult for him to express his opinions directly.

Of course, this is also because Zhu Changluo has been used to it for more than two years.

After reading too many vague memorials and records, I suddenly felt a sense of clarity and refreshment when I saw Li Zhi's writing style.

So I became even more confused.

"Your Majesty, it's late at night."

Late at night in the Yangxin Palace, Liu Ruoyu and Wang Jiayue were still waiting for him.

The emperor was indeed absorbed in reading these days. Apart from reading the minutes and selecting some important memorials to review and reply to letters, he spent the rest of his time reading, often until late at night.

He was so absorbed in thought that he hadn't summoned anyone to sleep with him for eight days.

Of course, it is understandable that Your Majesty is in deep grief as it is just the seventh day after Duke Dingguo’s death.

But now Liu Ruoyu reminded him that it was time to rest.

Zhu Changluo put down the book in his hand and looked at Liu Ruoyu: "You have been following along these days, what do you think?"

"I am not well-educated..." Liu Ruoyu didn't dare to say anything careless.

"Crazy or not?"

Seeing that the emperor insisted on asking more questions, Liu Ruoyu said: "I only saw the first few volumes of the collection... He said that he wrote this book to vent his anger for his predecessors. He is indeed crazy enough to be hostile to tens of millions of people..."

"What about the comments on the Master?"

"I dare not speak nonsense." Liu Ruoyu lowered his head again.

I now have a general understanding of Zhu Changluo, even though I have only glanced over a small part of his writings.

The most unorthodox thing, of course, is that he said, "Everyone regards Confucius's right and wrong as right and wrong, so there is no right and wrong."

The cornerstone of feudal moral ethics.

In fact, the old monk did have his own standards when evaluating historical figures: actual achievements and talents.

To put it bluntly, he values ​​ability more, and moral doctrine is placed second or even not an important consideration. For example, he compared Chen Sheng, Xiang Yu, Gongsun Shu, Dou Jiande, Li Mi and others with Emperor Taizong of Tang and Emperor Wu of Han, which is shocking enough.

Of course, what made the court and the public even more uneasy and dissatisfied was his evaluation of those Confucian officials.

[So if one holds an official post without using his salary for personal gain, he will not come even if he is summoned; if he does not hold a high rank, he will not come even if he is persuaded. Even if one is as sage as Confucius, if he does not hold the post of a governor or a prime minister, he will not be able to stay in Lu for a day...]

[…This is a natural law, a necessary sign, and cannot be made up out of thin air. However, those who talk about it for selflessness are just empty talk…]

Listen, it seems very detrimental on the surface: if you don't give him a high position and generous salary, he will definitely not come to be an official. Even if Confucius was not allowed to be a high official, wouldn't he be unwilling to stay in Lu?

But his starting point is actually very pragmatic.

To put it bluntly, Li Zhi's starting point is people and their real material life.

Neo-Confucianism is very averse to talking about utilitarianism, "correcting righteousness without seeking profit, and clarifying the way without counting achievements."

Li Zhi talked a lot about utilitarianism and advocated enriching the country and strengthening the military.

【If there is life, there must be something to sustain it, which is food. If there is a body, there must be something to protect it, which is weapons.】

【Both farming and military training should be equally important. 】

【If one does not talk about financial management, he will never be able to rule the world. 】

Neo-Confucianism talks about "preserving the principles of heaven and eliminating human desires", but his point of view is "wearing clothes and eating food are the principles of human ethics and physics."

From Zhu Changluo's perspective, his words were not rough and his logic was even more reasonable.

Li Zhi himself commented on himself: His words are vulgar.

The original sentence is: He is narrow-minded and impatient, his appearance is arrogant, his words are vulgar, his heart is crazy and foolish, his behavior is easy, he has few friends but is very friendly when he sees them. When he is with people, he likes to find their faults and is not happy with their strengths; when he hates people, he will not only cut off their relationship with him, but also want to harm them for the rest of his life.

I am impatient, proud, and harsh. I act on impulse, and can be very intimate with someone after only a few encounters, but I like to find faults rather than praise people. If I hate you, I will not deal with you, but will spend my whole life thinking about how to cheat you.

Of course, because this is Zhu Changluo, I now agree with what he says.

Matter determines consciousness, and the economic base determines the superstructure deep in our bones.

But the emperors who came out of the inertia of history could not tolerate him advocating that all things are one, that there is no such thing as high and low, and that scholars should serve themselves and adapt to the world.
And now, when so many officials and gentry in the court and the country hear him cursing, "On the yang side, he is Taoism, on the yin side, he is rich and noble, he wears elegant clothes, but behaves like a dog or a pig," how can they tolerate it?
He didn't scold Kong Shangxian to his face that day, which was really a mercy. Of course, that was also because he had already scolded him before.

"You dare not speak recklessly, and I dare not use it recklessly."

Zhu Changluo sighed.

He is too fierce. If he were in Europe, he would be burned to death.

The fact that the old monk could live safely to the age of seventy-six was actually thanks to the Confucian disciples who had some regard for morality and righteousness.

Therefore, how to use him to stimulate and change thoughts really made Zhu Changluo very embarrassed.

Zhu Changluo was not arrogant enough to propose any new ideological theoretical framework at this time. After all, the Ming Dynasty had not experienced such a huge social change. The most effective way was still to use the framework of Confucianism and inject new spirit into it.

This spirit infusion stick is so fierce and wild.

Foreplay isn't enough.

"Don't think about it, let's take a rest first."

"Then your majesty, which lady would you like to sleep with?"

Zhu Changluo stood up to stretch his stiff muscles, thought for a while, and then said, "Let's go to Concubine Shu's palace and change our minds."

As he moved, he walked to the outside of the main hall of the Qianqing Palace, and Zhu Changluo looked up at the night sky.

In the vast eastern land under this sky, there has not been much change in essence since the Qin Dynasty.

Zhu Changluo actually realized that although the old monk was criticizing Confucius and Mencius, he did not want to completely overthrow Confucianism.

He is also an old monk who wants to lift the roof and then open the window.

However, to deny that the words of sages such as Confucius and Mencius are the ultimate truth is actually tantamount to overthrowing Confucianism and even the Taoist and legal traditions that Confucianism supports.

Because imperial power is absolute.

The words of sages are the ultimate truth. Although they are increasingly leaving room and space for evolution, their advantage is that the standards are very clear and the entire structure is very complete and stable, which is of great help to the imperial power.

If there is to be reform, at least one or two generations of scholars will be at a loss as to what to do.

This is also based on the premise that a new set of theoretical content can be quickly established and recognized by the majority of readers.

Zhu Changluo was thinking, and Wang Jiayue was staring at his back in a daze.

She got used to being an unknown person in the Qianqing Palace. After all, more than five months had passed and the emperor really only treated her as a little maid in charge of the gate of the Qianqing Palace.

It was as if that day he really just wanted to check if he had any other old injuries.

After Liu Ruoyu came over and said that the Shufei had already been informed, the emperor left in a daze without even looking at her.

She was the gatekeeper, so she quietly closed the door of the Qianqing Palace.

This is good, at least here in the Qianqing Palace, no one bullies her anymore.

When she had finished everything she was supposed to do, she returned to the main room to rest.

I don't know how much time had passed, but suddenly I heard a noise again. It turned out that the emperor had returned.

Liu Ruoyu also woke them up: "Go make some tea, prepare some snacks, and light the lamps."

Wang Jiayue had a headache and asked about the time. After all, only an hour and a quarter had passed, and it was almost midnight.

But since the emperor had given the order, they naturally stood up again immediately.

When I saw the emperor again, he was radiant, his eyes were bright, and he was excitedly writing and drawing with a pen.

Tea and snacks were served, and Zhu Changluo continued to sketch on paper.

In fact, Zhu Yijun had been thinking about these questions since he had a stroke. Just now, when he thought of Shen Yikuan's retirement and Xu Wenbi's death from Fan Sirong's side, he suddenly realized that this was a good opportunity.

After all, we need to appoint a new prime minister, right?

The emperor is actually high above everyone else, and some problems are just treated equally.

He is so young and full of energy, he has plenty of time.

The anxiety caused by the local gentry inspections could not be ignored, and the new policies must be implemented. Some of the progressive ideas of the old monk Li Zhi should also be injected into the framework of Confucianism.

It just so happened that the Imperial College was re-established this year, and the post of Grand Secretary of Rites was appointed to be in charge of culture and education, which in itself involved adjustments to some central government offices.

"Your Majesty, what is this painting?" Liu Ruoyu was bored and couldn't help asking, "Why does it look like the Huangji Palace?"

"Can you see that?"

“…This is the Huangji Gate.”

"Hey." Zhu Changluo just chuckled and then said nothing.

After he had outlined the situation, he carefully considered the pros and cons and future changes.

Of course, adjustments can be made based on circumstances, but the smaller the impact of future adjustments, the better.

After all this busyness, the drum for the fifth hour of the midnight hour was struck outside.

"Tomorrow morning, have Tian Yi and Chen Ju go first to summon the two cabinet ministers, as well as the Grand Marshal and Ningyuan Marquis." Zhu Changluo put the paper down and folded it. After thinking for a while, he said, "And the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan."

"This slave has taken note of it."

"Sorry for disturbing your sweet dream." Zhu Changluo looked at them and his gaze suddenly stopped on Wang Jiayue's face.

Then he smiled and said, "Jiayue, please follow me and stay with me tonight."

Wang Jiayue was suddenly stunned and at a loss.

"Your Majesty, the dragon body..."

Liu Ruoyu opened his mouth to speak, but Zhu Changluo said without question: "I have been concentrating on studying these days, don't talk too much, just go and rest first, there will be a lot of things to do tomorrow."

He had already walked ahead, and Wang Jiayue didn't know whether to follow him or not.

Liu Ruoyu looked at her in surprise and could only smile and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty. Why don't you go quickly?"

So Wang Jiayue lowered her head, and finally passed it with her heart beating faster involuntarily. Then she thought about how tired she was before, and just washed herself and went to sleep...

"I'm really excited and I've sweated a little. I'll take a shower first."

She heard the emperor giving orders in front.

The other two people who were also called up to be in charge of lighting and food naturally started to get busy. When they passed by Wang Jiayue, they bowed their heads, bent their knees and saluted. The moment they looked up, they could not hide their envy.

Wang Jiayue couldn't understand why it suddenly happened again?
Only when the warm water was ready did the emperor look at her again and say, "Come here and take a shower."

Just like that day.

Wang Jiayue timidly lowered her head and undressed, while Zhu Changluo looked at her with a smile.

This time, they were baptized together.

As an emperor, the most important thing is to treat everyone equally.

This was true in the harem and in the previous dynasty.

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I'm in court today, and I owe you the chapter at 10 o'clock.

(End of this chapter)