Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 315 Either strictly follow the teachings of our ancestors, or reform!
Zhu Houcong smiled secretly at this.

He knew that Wang Ao was sympathizing with the Xie family.

After all, the Xie family and his Wang family are both families of great scholars.

Therefore, Wang Ao could not help but feel sympathy for his fellow human beings and even feel apologetic.

After all, the reason why the Xie family had this outcome was because of the emperor's strict maritime ban and his support for the emperor's strict maritime ban.

But in Zhu Houcong's view, the Xie family had brought this upon themselves.

If the Xie family had not disregarded the law and supported smuggling, how could such a result have occurred?

Especially Xie Qian!
If this veteran minister had not advocated adhering to the ancestral system and demanded a maritime ban while allowing his family to continue supporting smuggling, the Xie family would not have been in this situation.

It can be said that if the upper beam is crooked, the lower beams will be crooked.

As a result, when the imperial court really imposed a strict maritime ban, the Xie family was directly defeated.

This is also an operation that does not want to reform but wants to make a fortune, and the consequence is failure.

At this time, the Prime Minister Fei Hong hurriedly bowed to Zhu Houcong and said, "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, this shows that the Xie family is still involved in smuggling, and it is very likely that because the court has strengthened the ban on the sea, the Xie family and the pirates had an internal conflict, which led to their extermination!"

"What Yuanfu said is correct. The extermination of the Xie family is their own fault. They deserve to die!"

"But now, these pirates and the wealthy families along the coast behind them dare to directly wipe out the entire family of a university scholar. This is undoubtedly a formal provocation to the court and my majesty! At the same time, it is also a warning to me and the court that if I and the court continue to strictly ban the sea, they will do even more excessive things, including but not limited to causing chaos in the southeast!"

Zhu Houcong said in a deep voice at this time.

Wang Qiong immediately agreed, "Your Majesty is absolutely right!"

"Since the pirates and the wealthy families along the coast dared to wipe out the entire Xie family, it means that they no longer care about the majesty of Your Majesty and the court, and are officially challenging the imperial constitution and national laws!"

"Next, they will see how the imperial court decides: will they continue to strictly prohibit sea trade, or will they no longer do so?"

"If the imperial court continues to strictly prohibit the sea, they will naturally take risks and directly cause chaos in the southeast! After all, they dare to destroy even the residence of the Grand Scholars built by the previous emperor, let alone the government offices and other residences of scholars and civilians?"

After Wang Qiong said this, Zhu Houcong stood up from the throne and his expression became firm and serious.

"What I mean is:"

"As long as there is no general call for opening the sea, the strict sea ban must continue to be implemented!"

"The imperial court should do this if the coastal wealthy families and pirates are not threatened. The imperial court should also do this if the coastal sea and pirates are threatened!"

"You want a maritime ban, but you don't want the imperial court to take it seriously. You want both. There is no such good thing in the world!"

"I will not allow the imperial law to become a tool for them to monopolize the sea power!"

"In short, if you want to ban the sea, you must do it seriously. According to the ancestral teachings of Emperor Taizu Gao, no one is allowed to go to sea!"

"If we don't want to ban the sea, we should provide policies to encourage the opening of the sea, which will benefit the people and the country!"

"We cannot be ambiguous and destroy the majesty of the imperial law!"

At this time, Zhu Houcong once again emphasized his views on maritime policy as the emperor.

He still insisted on his original proposition that profits can be given up but power cannot be given up!

Open up the sea and allow more maritime benefits to benefit ordinary people?

you can!

Banning the sea will allow more sea benefits to benefit the country?
Also works!
However, we cannot ban maritime trade while not taking it seriously, as this will prevent the common people from benefiting, and the country from benefiting, while only the gentry and powerful will benefit.

Because this would make the imperial power meaningless, and also make the central authority of the court meaningless, it is giving up power! Rather than simply giving up benefits!

This method, which only benefited the gentry and the powerful, was the result of the power of the local gentry suppressing the imperial power, which led to great profits.

This was naturally unacceptable to Zhu Houcong.

Even if he wants to give benefits to the people, he must do so openly and openly!
Because only in this way can he, as the emperor, justifiably bestow grace on the people.

Only in this way can one gain a true reputation for benevolence and win the hearts of the people, thereby obtaining longer-term benefits, that is, ensuring long-term stability and peace for the country.

Instead of banning the sea, which became a tool to prevent the common people from going out to sea and offend the common people, and let future generations criticize him as an emperor who was conservative and stubborn and did not know how to open the sea;
On the one hand, it allowed the gentry and wealthy families along the coast to benefit, while he himself did not gain any benefit at all.

That would undoubtedly be neither face-saving nor meaningful.

It is undoubtedly a very loss-making thing.

in contrast.

The wealthy and powerful families along the coast, on the one hand, protected the ancestral system and gave themselves the reputation of being loyal to the national system, and on the other hand, they monopolized maritime interests, controlled the common people who depended on the sea for their survival, and gained real benefits.

For the wealthy and powerful people along the coast, this was undoubtedly a win-win for both face and substance.

It is undoubtedly a very profitable thing. Therefore, Zhu Houcong naturally did not want to do the stupid thing of banning the sea but not taking it seriously.

"His Majesty!"

"In this case, we must do as we discussed before and urge the imperial merchants to hire people for trade. At the same time, we must send officials to visit foreign countries as soon as possible, so as to prevent the court from continuing to strictly ban the sea and causing the common people in the southeast who make a living by the sea to rebel!"

"Before the big families on the coast give in and mobilize the people to call for the opening of the sea, the imperial court, since it wants to strictly ban the sea, can only use the imperial merchants and mobilize the power of the court to hire the common people who make a living by the sea."

Wang Ao then put forward his own suggestions.

"What the Lord said is true. We must send urgent messages to urge them. In addition, we must dispatch a skilled general to lead his personal army to the south and be ready to support the southeast at any time!"

Zhu Houcong nodded.

"According to the order!"

At this time.

The Prime Minister Fei Hongze also said: "Your Majesty, the Xie family is a family of senior ministers. Even if they were wiped out by the pirates, it was their own fault. However, this matter involves the dignity of the court. No matter what, if the Xie family is to be exterminated, it should be done in accordance with the imperial law. The emperor has the power of life and death. Anyone who violates this prohibition is defying the imperial law and is an offense to the emperor!"

"So I ask Your Majesty to issue an order to reprimand the officials in charge of the coastal defense office and the governors! Let them make amends for their crimes!"

"Of course I will reprimand you!"

"Once the report arrives, issue a strict decree and fine Zhu Wan, Cai Tianyou and all other civil and military officials in Liangzhe for half a year! Let them make amends for their crimes and the ringleader must be apprehended within this year!"

"There has never been a pirate who destroyed the family of a university scholar in this dynasty. Now that they have done this, it is clear that they are rampant. If we don't get rid of them, we will not be able to restore the prestige of our country!"

"This is just the reason to crack down on pirates!"

Zhu Houcong replied.

"Yes!"

……

……

Xie’s house in the capital.

Not long after Xie Qian arrived here, he also learned that his entire family had been exterminated.

The news was brought to him by his fellow townsman, Tao Huai, the Minister of the Honglu Temple.

"Master, please accept my condolences."

After Tao Huai told Xie Qian about the situation of the Xie family in Yuyao, he bowed and offered words of comfort.

Xie Qian was holding the urgent letter from the Tao family, lost in thought for a long time.

"My God!"

Sudden.

After being in a daze for a while, Xie Qian shouted towards the sky, then knelt on the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood.

His face was as pale as a ghost from which all the yang energy had been drained away.

Then she pursed her lips and cried again, but without making any sound.

Because this blow was too great for him!
He couldn't accept it at all.

Tao Huai and Xie Qian's son Xie Gen helped Xie Qian to sit on a chair, and advised: "Please accept your grief and don't be too sad."

"I wish I could go with them right now!"

Xie Qian said this in great pain.

Tao Huai continued to persuade him: "Sir, don't say such things. The dead still need you to avenge them!"

"Father!"

"Mr. Tao is right. Please take care of yourself!"

At this time, Xie Gen knelt down in front of Xie Qian, kowtowed with tears in his eyes, and began to cry as he spoke.

As for Xie Gen, he could not bear this result.

Because of this devastating disaster, only he, his father, and his nephew Xie Zhiwang who was studying in the Imperial College were left in the Xie family!

The Xie family suddenly became as small as a family with few members. In this era of low life expectancy, it is very easy for the family to be completely wiped out!

(End of this chapter)