Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 361 Jiajing: It was you who forced me to punish you severely!
Zhu Houcong agreed to Peng Ze's request and met him in the imperial study.

He wanted to see what this ambitious man who attempted to control the court and establish King Yi would say. Apart from his great ambition for power, what other reasons made him so bold and presumptuous?

What Peng Ze is most worried about now is that the emperor will cast him into a kneeling statue, allowing people all over the world to laugh at him, even women and children will laugh at him.

Peng Ze knew that he was completely defeated.

He failed to stop the emperor from sending a fleet to patrol the East, nor did he allow Ma Lu to overthrow Guo Xun and the two foreign relatives. Even the secrets between him and Prince Yi were discovered by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Since he had become a loser, Peng Ze naturally knew that he should have the awareness of a loser, that is, he should honestly plead guilty and beg for mercy, and humble himself to the dust.

After all, this is a world where winners take all.

Since he unfortunately became a loser, he should act like a loser.

So, when he learned that the emperor was willing to see him, he expressed his gratitude to the point of crying.

When he arrived before the emperor and saw Zhu Houcong, who was only twenty years old, sitting on the throne, he knelt down reverently and performed great salutes, not daring to show any contempt.

He really didn't dare to do it again!
After all, the young emperor in front of him made him lose miserably.

He originally thought that although this young emperor was scheming, his will was not necessarily strong, and his understanding of the literati was not necessarily profound.

But he did not expect that the young emperor had long regarded them, the literati and officials, as the most despicable people, and even looked down upon them. This was why when most of the bureaucrats in the entire bureaucracy came together to oppose him, they were unable to scare him. Instead, he used Empress Dowager Zhang to scare the entire bureaucracy.

Zhu Houcong looked at Peng Ze who was kneeling in front of him with a stern face, and said first: "Speak, what do you want to say to me?"

"I have no other purpose, I just want to apologize to Your Majesty in person. I deeply owe you the grace!"

After Peng Ze spoke with a sob, he suddenly burst into tears, so much so that he couldn't even cry, and his whole body curled up and shook.

Zhu Houcong said impatiently: "Don't pretend to be so hypocritical in front of me. I don't want to see it!"

"His Majesty!"

"I am not being hypocritical. I truly feel sorry for Your Majesty and for the people of this country."

"I was blinded by greed. I wanted to return to the court and take power so badly that I did something so outrageous. I have only just come to my senses now. How foolish I am!"

Peng Ze raised his head and answered with a pursed mouth.

Zhu Houcong smiled faintly: "You are not stupid, you are bad, extremely bad, that's why you dare to do such a thing."

"Your Majesty is even more right. The biggest reason why I am in this situation today is that I am too bad."

"I do not want to see Your Majesty govern the country with clean and honest officials, a strong country and rich people, because in that case, bad people like me will not be able to confuse right and wrong and act recklessly."

"Besides, it was because Your Majesty worked hard to govern the country and cared for the people after you ascended the throne that a hypocrite like me was unable to incite the Ganzhou mutiny under the pretext of cooperating with the reform. Instead, I was dismissed from office and returned home. It was just that I was unwilling to leave the court like this, so I did so many treasonous things."

Peng Ze kowtowed again and said, "I would not regret dying even if I were cut into pieces. But I only ask Your Majesty to show mercy and not let me end up like Qin Hui and Tao Xie. No matter how bad I am, I would never dare to use foreign invaders to bully the country or threaten the emperor with despicable means! Even if I colluded with the Japanese pirates, I never thought of using them to bully the country!"

"It's not that you don't want to, it's that the Japanese pirates can't help you do this."

"You are reactionary and conservative at home and dare not innovate. Even if you say you want to innovate, you are doing things that are backward in the name of innovation. You either deliberately innovate excessively or deliberately innovate incompletely. Externally, you are fawning and friendly. Not to mention that the strong tribes will be used as your assistants to bully the country and exploit the people, even the weak tribes will be supported by you in the name of appeasement with the people's blood and sweat, and you will also steal some of it for your own use."

"So, don't tell me that you haven't thought about it. It's just that the Japanese pirates are not strong enough to destroy our country. Otherwise, it's not impossible for you to become the second Qin Hui!"

Zhu Houcong told the truth.

Peng Ze was speechless.

Then, Peng Ze closed his eyes and kowtowed: "Your Majesty is right." He had to admit that the emperor in front of him really saw through them.

He also didn't understand how Yuan Zonggao could teach the emperor to be so wise, as if the emperor knew them better than they knew themselves.

"But your majesty, who in this world doesn't study and become an official for the sake of becoming a superior person, for the sake of wealth and comfort?"

"Do you think they are so noble?"

As Peng Ze spoke, he suddenly became excited and started arguing with Zhu Houcong again, pointing at the four ministers of the Imperial Study, Yang Yiqing, Wang Ao, Wang Qiong, and Zhang Cong, and asked Zhu Houcong a question in return.

then.

Peng Ze asked again: "Why do you insist on requiring all officials in the world to truly love the people like their own children, to be honest as water, and to really want everyone to do what the saints say?"

"You should understand that in this world, everyone says the words of the sage in order to better govern the people, so that the common people will willingly support the rich and powerful, so that the world will not be in chaos due to the difference between the rich and the poor! It is not really to follow the words of the sage, to make the common people 'look up to support their parents, look down to support their wives and children, and be full all their lives'!"

"In fact, it is as Han Feizi said, we should 'establish laws and regulations to unify the people, and use rewards and punishments to fully tap the people's abilities'!"

"I did not ask you to truly love the people like your own children and be as honest as water!"

"If I had asked for this, I would have issued an order to severely punish the skinning of the daylily."

"It is you who have been asking me to love the people like my own children, to be frugal and save money for the people, and to promote all kinds of benefits."

"It is you who are forcing me to bear the hidden dangers brought by cutting down the expenses of the harem, and to fulfill your beautiful fantasy of wanting the people of the world to enjoy long-term peace and stability because of my support, which has forced me to take this step today."

"You just mentioned the ministers of the Imperial Study who were present, and asked me if I felt they were not so noble."

"I can answer you now."

"Yes, I think they are noble!"

"Because they are more humane and sensible than you. They may not have achieved other saintly principles, but at least they did not impose on others what you do not want others to do to you."

"To be able to do this is already noble. To be even nobler, you have to be strict with yourself and lenient with others."

"But I didn't ask him to be so noble."

"I just want them not to have too much, and not to think of sacrificing my comfort and my family's happiness in order to benefit the world. That's enough!"

"If you can't even do this by yourself, don't force me to do it. Likewise, I won't ask you to do it."

Zhu Houcong asked Peng Ze, "Is this difficult?"

"But you just can't do it. I have strictly banned the sea and sent imperial merchants to patrol the East Ocean, which has harmed your interests. But isn't it you who want to ban the sea and win over distant countries?"

"I am doing exactly what you want. I have never forced you to agree. How can it be wrong?"

Zhu Houcong asked again with a sneer.

After hearing this, Peng Ze closed his eyes again and couldn't help asking, "So, Your Majesty is determined to let me be humiliated by the common people?"

"I only know that to correct a wrong you must not go too far, and if you go too far you cannot correct a wrong!"

Zhu Houcong only responded with this in a cold voice.

(End of this chapter)