Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 334 Jiajing asked the literati to reflect!
After Zhu Houcong asked this, Fei Hong and Wang Ao said nothing more.

"I would rather let my descendants see that I dared to die for my loyal ministers to defend my power than let them see that I would cower in front of my loyal ministers! And in the future, they would not dare to insist on the dignity that a monarch should have in front of my loyal ministers!"

"As for Guo Nan's death and the fate of Xiong, Liu and others, the people who should truly reflect on it and make changes are not me, but you, my subjects."

"You should think seriously about what kind of monarch and court you want."

Zhu Houcong said a few more words meaningfully, then waved his hand and asked Fei Hongdi to go back and think about it carefully.

Fei Hong and Wang Ao bowed and took their leave.

The two naturally understood what the emperor meant.

This is true.

Because the outcome of whether Zhu Houcong would become a tyrant or a wise and benevolent ruler was not only determined by his personal will, but also by the environment and the will of the bureaucrats, especially the scholar-official group within the bureaucracy.

If the bureaucrats insisted on having it all, were hypocritical, ignored the actual conditions, and wanted the emperor to be as hypocritical as them and even obey them, then if Zhu Houcong did not want to be a hypocritical emperor, he could only be a tyrant.

If the bureaucrats knew how to advance and retreat, and strictly demanded themselves to practice benevolence and forgiveness in order for the emperor to become a sage and benevolent ruler, then Zhu Houcong would naturally be willing to be a benevolent ruler who was kind to his people because he knew that there was still a lot of room for development in the world's productivity and external resources.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong said that it was the bureaucrats themselves who should reflect and make changes.

of course!

Zhu Houcong knew that if the bureaucrats wanted to change themselves, they had to change their thinking first and adapt to the new era.

The Ming Dynasty is not the Yuan Dynasty, nor the Song Dynasty, nor the Tang Dynasty. We cannot simply use the previous ideas to demand that the emperor and this society keep pace with the times.

It is no longer possible for the monarch and his subjects to govern together, and the power of scholars is destined to be weakened step by step. If one wants to truly limit the power of the monarch, one can only win over the people and mobilize the broad masses of the people.

But are the literati, or the landlord class, willing to mobilize the people and advocate for civil rights?
Zhu Houcong only felt that since he ascended the throne, it was he, the emperor, who had been mobilizing and winning over the people, and uniting the people's rights to fight against the power of the scholars.

Whether he brought refugees into the capital, or mobilized the people to petition against the Zuo Shunmen Crying Remonstrance of the civil officials who were hiding in the palace, it all showed that he, the emperor, was using the people to help him.

On the contrary, the literati never won over the people to fight against him.

Whether it was discussing the grand ceremony or protecting the Northern School of Confucius.

In these struggles, the literati preferred to use reactionary and violent means that were detrimental to their own gentlemanly integrity, such as death threats and assassinations of dissidents, as the final confrontation, and never thought of calling on the people.

On the contrary, the power of the scholars has been trying hard to suppress both the imperial power and the civil rights.

On the one hand, the scholars actively restricted the emperor in terms of etiquette and law, and legally required the emperor to grant the scholars special privileges;
On the one hand, the scholars tried every means to prevent the reform of the grain transport system from being changed in a direction that would benefit the military and civilians, and they also strongly demanded a ban on the sea, and were unwilling to relax restrictions on ordinary people.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong had to admit that it was true that the landlords were reactionary and backward.

He did not need to worry that these landlords who wanted both feudalism and a republican system could really raise the banner of anti-imperialism, mobilize the people, and fight for their rights.

There may be specific landlords and bureaucrats who care for the people and make decisions for them, but they are ultimately only a minority of individual bureaucrats.

Therefore, he can deal with these people unscrupulously and make them fear him, respect him and please him!
Unless in the future the Ming Dynasty no longer relies on a landlord economy, but starts industrialization and a commodity economy, or there is a more powerful industrial country outside, which becomes a new variable affecting the country's destiny.

But this is many years later.

It's not possible in his generation.

Now all he needs to do is teach these landlords a lesson, whip them with a whip, force them to be obedient, progress with him, and not drag down the entire Chinese civilization.

However, this incident also made Zhu Houcong realize that he was increasingly acting like a political creature. He no longer killed people based on right or wrong, but rather based on benefits and disadvantages.

Therefore, among those he executed, some began to be good people in traditional moral terms. …

……

Meridian Gate.

boom!
With the help of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, Guo Nan crashed directly into the palace wall outside the Meridian Gate and died on the spot with his head exploded.

The court officials were naturally not very sad, but no one dared to speak of it.

As a result, Tao Xie and Liu Jing successfully obtained the "grace" given to them by Zhu Houcong. In addition to being sentenced to death, they were also made into kneeling statues and kneeling statue toilets.

However, because Xiong Yiqing was crazy, he cooperated very well and told many things in the form of crazy talk in the imperial prison. Therefore, Zhu Houcong granted him the grace of dying suddenly in prison.

Because Jia Yong was relatively cooperative and did not participate in the case of threatening the emperor with the royal heir, he was granted the grace of dying suddenly in prison.

As for their nine clans, they were all exiled to Donglai by Zhu Houcong in order to continue to increase the population of Donglai Island.

Because it is still a hundred years before the Western barbarians colonize Donglai on a large scale, he has to create more Han Chinese settlements there as soon as possible, and then use it as a forward base for future expansion to Luzon and Oceania.

Duke Dingguo Xu Guangzuo also witnessed the emperor's ruthlessness and determination because of this incident.

But the more this happened, the more grateful he was to Guo Xun.

Therefore, at the end of the court meeting, Xu Guangzuo took the initiative to walk towards Guo Xun and said with a smile: "My dear nephew, you have done me a great favor this time! If you need anything from me in the future, please speak up."

"You are too polite, sir. We are all military heroes and we should take care of each other."

Guo Xun replied with a smile.

Xu Guangzuo also smiled and nodded.

And because of Guo Xun's cooperation and courtesy, Xu Guangzuo's fear of the emperor faded a little. He believed that as long as they, the military heroes, could take care of each other, there was no need to worry no matter how strict the emperor was.

However, after the camp commander Qian Weiyuan and Xia Xun reported that it had been discovered that the muskets were lost by Niu Yong and other flag officers under the command of Captain Wang Bangqi, Guo Xun immediately reported the matter truthfully to the emperor.

then.

After Zhu Houcong learned about this, he immediately ordered Guo Xun to bring Wang Bangqi, Niu Yong and others to the imperial study.

When Guo Xun sent people to arrest him, Wang Bangqi was naturally very surprised. When he was tied up and brought in front of Guo Xun, he couldn't help but ask Guo Xun loudly: "Marquis Wu Ding, why is this happening? Didn't the old master say that you would help cover it up?"

"When did the old man say this? How come I don't know it?"

Guo Xun asked back a question, and then had Wang Bangqi and others brought into the palace.

Naturally, Guo Xun's actions were soon known to Duke Dingguo Xu Guangzuo's old subordinates in various camps in the capital, who immediately went to Duke Dingguo's mansion and informed Xu Guangzuo of the matter.

Xu Guangzuo, who was appreciating the ancient paintings, was naturally horrified. He sat on the ground on the spot and said in a daze: "It's over, I'm done!"

Royal study room.

Zhu Houcong had already seen Wang Bangqi kneeling outside the palace and asked, "How did you lose your musket?"

At this time, Niu Yong, a flag officer under Wang Bangqi, replied: "It was Captain Wang who asked us to sell it."

Wang Bangqi kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty, please allow me to report this. This was all authorized by Duke Dingguo. Without the guarantee of a noble like him, how could I dare to sell the gun? Everyone knows that losing a musket is a serious crime, let alone selling it!"

(End of this chapter)