Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 211: Pointing to the Gains and Losses of Culture and Education
The emperor's eldest son was born, and imperial decrees were issued frequently.

Last year, commercial taxes were strictly enforced, but this year, they were exempted. And from the third year of Taichang, the entire Ming Dynasty was exempted from the three-year education, water conservancy, road and bridge service, and did not have to bear the expenses of the post stations.

But at what cost?

Being a local official is like this. The emperor and the officials in the court who are high above only need an edict or an official document, but the local officials have a lot of things to consider.

How much money do we need to raise this year to meet the requirements of strict preferential treatment and exemption?

How much money should be saved to cover the expenses for education, water conservancy, roads and bridges in the next three years?
After strictly enforcing preferential exemptions and reducing the burden on the post stations, how much silver will be left each year to support local diligence and integrity rewards and public funds, while at the same time allowing the higher-ups to see that increasing revenue is effective and that taxes are growing?

The congratulatory memorial required by the Emperor was not easy to write, and the tax and labor memorial required by the Council of Administration was also not easy to write.

So far, only the areas around Beijing have been racking their brains over this issue.

In the city of Beijing, after Shen Yikuan left the court, the "old party" had involuntarily leaned towards the Jinxian Academy and the extremely senior Grand Secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Shen Shixing.

After all, the selection and promotion of civil servants throughout the country, as well as the foundation and direction of the world's culture and education, are all in the Jinxian Academy.

And Shen Shixing is always good at reconciliation.

Now the central government offices have undergone a major reshuffle, the assistant prime ministers are sharpening their knives, and the local governments are in a state of panic. Shouldn't the minister of culture try to reconcile them?

Before the court meeting on July 25, the civil officials outside the Meridian Gate looked at the five people with strange and vigilant eyes.

Although there were only five people, they were divided into three groups.

Li Zhi's group has the most followers: Although he is not well-liked by many people, he is still a great master after all, and he has some "fans" in the court. Some people appreciate his ideas, and some people approve of his political views.

Secondly, the people around Gu Xiancheng and Gao Panlong, they all used to be officials in the court, they always have some old friends, and being polite is the way of being a human being.

Cao Xuequan and Zang Maoxun were the least popular, which made Cao Xuequan very uncomfortable.

They didn't know that this was because of the emperor's opinion on the situation in Changxing County: Shu Boqing did a good job, why did he get rid of him? Not only did he not have to hide the 100,000 taels of silver, but he also had to make Changxing County's disposal plan a benchmark for other places.

Zang Maoxun was one of Shu Baiqing's political achievements. Who would go and be polite to him at this time?
The drum hasn't sounded yet, so there's no need to line up. The most people are gathered around Shen Shixing.

"Minister Wen, Elder Shen retired because he tried hard to prevent Li Zhi from being summoned. Today..."

"I heard that Donglin Academy always holds lectures and talks about the corruption of officials in the court, regardless of whether they are new or old..."

"I have also read the collection of Jinling Poetry Society. The words are sincere and sincere, and they are actually concerned about the country and the people..."

Everyone has different concerns about the emperor summoning these five people to today's court meeting.

In terms of destructiveness, Li Zhi was the most destructive, because he despised the current cultural and educational system, and the vast majority of people taught in official schools were trash, and the vast majority of officials selected by the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel were trash.

In terms of stance, the old party members sympathized with the Jinling Poetry Society. In the aftermath of last year's major case and this year's strict preferential treatment, the Jinling Poetry Society was targeting the new policy.

The only thing I don’t understand is the Donglin Academy: Gu Xiancheng didn’t seem to be such a person before, so why is it that although he is attacking indiscriminately now, most of his firepower is directed at officials and gentry who are unwilling to change?

Shen Shixing looked at Li Dai and Zhu Guozuo who formed two small circles not far away, and wondered what the big deal was.

The position of a minister of literature is naturally extraordinary, and he must have a Hanlin background, which is the most valuable. Li Dai suddenly became inferior to the Grand Secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and now he is insisting on building the power of the Ministry of Personnel with the help of the positions and transfers created by the major changes in the central government offices - this is justified. Although all the officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty, from the imperial examination to promotion, are in the Jinxianyuan, the emperor obviously does not want to entrust all of this to one person.

What’s more, Shen Shixing’s qualifications and prestige are so high?

Shen Shixing looked at Li Zhi in the distance again, and while continuing to think about what the Minister of Literature should do, he withdrew his gaze and said, "It has come to this, let's talk about it at the court meeting."

"Minister of Literature..."

Suddenly, several people became anxious. Shen Shixing raised his hand to stop them: "As for the dispute over the great cause of learning, it is my natural duty. The important affairs of government are now in the hands of the Administrative Council."

This was the result of his thinking over the past few days: since the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel still exist in the Jinxian Academy, the greatest responsibility of the Grand Secretary of the Imperial Household is probably to assist the emperor in stabilizing the academic avenues of culture and education, and to train scholars and officials throughout the country according to the emperor's needs.

He asked the others to prepare for the shift first, then he closed his eyes and continued to think.

The emperor established a Tongzheng Academy under the Hanlin Academy in the imperial study system, where officials were "re-educated" before their promotion. This showed that he was not satisfied with the quality of officials trained in the official schools.

Although Shen Yiquan's resignation was just a matter of convenience, the emperor still wanted to bring Li Zhi to the court...

The drum sounded, and the court officials began to line up.

Although Cao Xuequan also held an official position, he was not on the list of officials attending the court this time.

The five of them had to wait outside the Meridian Gate and would not go in until the court meeting was halfway through and the emperor summoned them to his presence.

The drums sounded three times, and they watched the people file in.

Soon after, the sound of worship was heard from inside.

Except for Cao Xuequan, the other four had served as officials. Li Zhi had even served as a prefect and wore a red robe.

But at the moment, except for Li Zhi, the other four were still nervous.

After all, it was the Minister of Rites of Nanjing and the Governor of Yingtian who impeached them.

After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, they were finally brought into the Meridian Gate and stood on the southwest side of the Inner Golden Water Bridge.

The daily court meeting was held at Xuanzhi Gate, west of Huangji Gate. From here, one could naturally see the court meeting there, but it was a little far away and one could not hear clearly. After waiting here for another quarter of an hour, a voice came from the other side: "Announce Li Zhi and others to see the emperor!"

After crossing the bridge and walking past the last group of officials in green robes, they gradually walked between two groups of people in red robes.

The literary class has been divided into four rows. At the front is Duke Yansheng, and in the back row are Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue side by side. It can also be seen that two seats are empty.

On the martial arts side, there were also Tian Le and Wen Chun, as well as civil officials from the Ministry of War.

For Li Zhi and others who were familiar with the rules and regulations, this was a truly shocking schedule for the court meetings.

At this moment, Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue and others were feeling very solemn.

Because at the court meeting just now, the first thing was that the emperor issued an edict regarding the Privy Council. The personnel structure and special attributes of the Privy Council were known to everyone in the court, and then they quickly re-arranged their duties.

From then on, there was a group of specialized civil officials in the military class with different paths for civil and military affairs, and the Ming Dynasty had its first Privy Councilor, a military minister of the first rank.

For the time being, Tian Le's position was one row higher than Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue, and he was at the front of the military and civil officials.

The second thing was that the emperor was concerned about the progress of the provincial military examination that was to be held this year, and issued an edict to hold the metropolitan military examination and the palace examination next year.

There will also be a palace examination for the martial arts examination!
The third thing is to care about the progress of the local Tai student selection, requiring the University Garden, Middle School Garden, Primary School Garden and Hundred Schools Garden to accept the first batch of students before the end of the year.

Then Li Zhi and others came before the emperor.

After the ceremony, the emperor allowed Li Zhi to stand up on the grounds of his old age.

Gu Xiancheng, Gao Panlong, Cao Xuequan, and Zang Maoxun were still kneeling.

Zhu Changluo looked at them, and his eyes turned to Cao Xuequan who was wearing a blue official robe: "You are the left minister of the Nanjing Dali Temple, and your official rank is the sixth grade. If you have any opinions on the pros and cons of the court's policies, why don't you submit them in writing, but instead send them in poetry?"

The emperor distinguished between those who were in office and those who were not. Cao Xuequan knelt down and looked at Zhu Changluo: "My words are insignificant, and it is useless to submit a memorial. I just expressed my feelings through poetry and prose, and briefly expressed my worries! I don't know why Minister Ye impeached me for making friends with poetry and prose!"

"Zang Maoxun, do you understand?"

Zhu Changluo first dealt with the matter of the Jinling Poetry Society. Zang Maoxun heard this and replied, "I don't understand it either."

No longer holding an official position and not being allowed to retire due to normal old age, Zang Maoxun is truly a commoner now.

"Shen Taichang, what do you think?"

Shen Shixing took a deep breath, walked up to them, and then bent over and said, "Ye Jinqing is concerned about the court's policies and is worried that they will incite the people to oppose the government, so he impeached them."

"Cao Xuequan, Zang Maoxun, do you think the poetry and writings of the Jinling Poetry Society have incited the people to oppose the government?"

"I don't have it!"

"I dare not..."

Zhu Changluo looked at the two people with different expressions, then looked at Shen Shixing and sighed: "The court is not the court, the wild is not the wild. Officials may have different political views, but there are many who do not understand the will and the essence of the government orders, the pros and cons, the gains and losses. Or simply out of selfishness, forget their duties."

Cao Xuequan's face changed and he wanted to argue.

Zhu Changluo stared at him and said, "I am not here to listen to your explanations today. Since you hold an official position, if you have any doubts or concerns about government affairs, you can submit your memorials directly to my desk, and the channels for submitting memorials are also unimpeded. All the officials in the court are one body, and I will not stop the officials from discussing privately if there is anything to say. But you have so many friends that you even publish poems and essays criticizing the government. Who are you doing this job for?"

"People..."

"I'm not going to listen to your excuses." Zhu Changluo interrupted him again, "I know you have talent, and it's not that no one in the court appreciates you. In the imperial examination, you were asked about chariot warfare, and you said you were from the south and didn't know about chariot warfare. Please discuss it with boat warfare. If you can't answer, it means you are not knowledgeable. But Zhang Wei felt sorry for you and thought you had a lot of insights. He originally planned to give you the first place in the imperial examination. Did he treat you unfairly? You are the head of the Ministry of Revenue, the left minister of the Nanjing Dali Temple, you have been an official for more than seven years, you really know how the people are?"

Cao Xuequan didn't expect that the emperor actually understood him, and was stunned.

"You probably don't understand how the magistrate of Changxing was forced to risk his life by Zang Maoxun, a member of your poetry club, and the gentry of Changxing County." Zhu Changluo looked at Zang Maoxun coldly. "It's a good night to go sightseeing. The imperial guards have relaxed their ban. The Jiuwei market is full of lanterns and there are dance halls. The bright moon follows the carriage and the fragrant wind floats the silk. I still feel unhappy and I am going south to visit Changgan. Cao Xuequan, what do you think of Zang Maoxun's "Nanjing Yuan Ye"?"

Zang Maoxun's face turned pale, and Cao Xuequan finally understood the emperor's style: he really came well prepared and had done his homework in advance.

"It's not surprising that this scholar is romantic." Zhu Changluo answered for him, "But at that time he was a doctor of the Imperial Academy. You are an official in Nanjing, collecting salaries from the taxes paid by the people. Is this how you worry about the country and the people? Now you worry about the country and the people by criticizing the government?"

The atmosphere outside Xuanzhi Gate was solemn, and it was obvious that the emperor's words were not just meant for these two people.

"Zhang Wei appreciated your talent and made an exception to allow you to become a Jinshi in that subject. Zhang Jiangling appreciated your talent and allowed you to be a professor in his hometown of Jingzhou." Zhu Changluo looked at the two of them. "You haven't made any achievements. Is it because the court can't tolerate you, or is it because of your own problems? You have the nerve to criticize the government without any hesitation?"

The two men were still kneeling, but their expressions had changed.

"Shen Taichang, how do you think this matter should be handled?"

Shen Shixing felt heavy-hearted: Today's theme was indeed to point directly to the gains and losses of culture and education, and it emphasized military first and then culture.

Of course, the heavyweights are still to come, so we naturally have to show a good attitude at this moment.

"The words and deeds of this rebellious person are not the fault of culture and education." With his back to the two, Shen Shixing bent down, "Clear talk is indeed no different from the state. I think Cao Si should go to the local area for training. Zang Maoxun took advantage of the situation in Changxing to oppose the imperial decree, and he should be punished."

Zhu Changluo looked at Zang Maoxun and just waved his hand: "After all, he surrendered himself. I have spoken my mind and pardoned him. Li Dai, see where there is a vacancy for a county magistrate and let Cao Xuequan go and take a good look at the people. I am not a harsh king. I am always willing to give opportunities, but I will not give them over and over again."

The two people expressed their gratitude with mixed feelings, and then left the court meeting first.

The next two people came from Donglin Academy. Zhu Changluo looked at them meaningfully and said, "What do you have to say about the impeachment by Yingtian Governor Niu Yingyuan?"

(End of this chapter)