Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 374 A dispute arose in the court, and the representative of Qingliu suffered a setback!

"Grand Master, you should be confident!"

Zhang Cong immediately looked at Wu Yipeng and refuted what he had just said.

Wu Yipeng couldn't help but be stunned.

“Why am I not confident?”

Then, Wu Yipeng took a deep breath and asked Zhang Cong.

Zhang Cong elaborated: "Our Chinese culture and education have a long history and are the right path for the world! There is no need to spend the national treasury to bribe the foreign scholars. As long as we show our welcome, the children of all countries that are kind and courteous will flock to us, and some will even pay money to come and study. How can there be people who would not admire China and be willing to be barbarians?"

Speaking of it.

Zhang Cong asked Wu Yipeng: "So, as a contemporary great scholar, don't you think that what you just said shows that you are not confident in your ability to promote the teachings of the sages and the status of the sages' learning?"

When Wu Yipeng heard Zhang Cong say this, he was choked with words and his face turned red.

"That makes sense."

"The aroma of wine is not afraid of the depth of the alley."

"The teachings of the saints do not require bribes, but are the principles of nature that all people in the world must learn! Every child should read and study as if drinking nectar, and should be diligent and untiring. Only those who are stubborn and unlearnable will despise learning!"

Yang Yiqing followed suit.

Wu Yipeng said: "But in order to educate the barbarians, it is appropriate to give them some encouragement."

"It shouldn't be!"

Zhang Cong replied again.

Wu Yipeng asked angrily, "Why shouldn't it be?"

Zhang Cong said: "The sage said that a gentleman is concerned with righteousness, while a villain is concerned with profit. Recruiting foreign soldiers for profit is the behavior of a villain and is not the right way! It will not attract decent foreign soldiers, but will only attract those who are only interested in profit!"

"Therefore, the way of education should not be encouraged by money. Only after they have made contributions, made words and established virtues, can they be given official positions to promote their virtues!"

"If I were a foreign gentleman, and heard that the superior country was recruiting talents with benefits, I would not be willing to come, and would think that this was an insult to my gentleman's integrity! I might even despise the superior country because of this!"

"You mean, I'm a villain?"

Wu Yipeng asked, gritting his teeth.

"He who values ​​profit over righteousness is a villain!"

Zhang Cong replied.

Wu Yipeng immediately stood up and asked, "Who are you saying values ​​profit over loyalty?!"

Zhang Cong was about to throw the tea on the ground: "Whoever answers is the one!"

Zhang Cong no longer gave Wu Yipeng any face.

then.

Zhang Cong continued, "Spending state money on foreign scholars to encourage them to study in the imperial court is nominally for the purpose of educating foreigners, but in reality it is just to make more money for your Ministry of Rites! After all, all matters concerning education and foreigners are decided by your Ministry of Rites! Don't think anyone doesn't know what you meant by what you said just now? In addition, you are unwilling to change the issue of the royal family. It's because you don't want the power to manage the royal family to no longer belong to the Ministry of Rites, so that the Ministry of Rites will have fewer opportunities to extort bribes from local royal families!"

"Zhang Fujing, you are slandering me!"

Wu Yipeng immediately retorted.

Zhang Cong sneered, "If you want to prove that I am not slandering you, then you, the Minister of Rites, should not object to this matter!"

"Don't get excited!"

Wang Ao said something at this time.

Wu Yipeng also sat back down, no longer glaring at Zhang Cong, and just said:
"I will listen to Lord Zhenze. I am not excited, nor do I object. You can discuss it!"

"Lord Zhenze wants you to be calm, not willful!"

Prime Minister Yang Yiqing said something at this time.

Wu Yipeng said: "I'm not being willful, I'm just really worried that if we continue to rely on foreign enemies like this, it will only exacerbate the external threat!"

"The strength of a country lies in virtue, not in danger. Similarly, it is not possible to dominate the world with strong soldiers and brave generals! The Japanese have flocked to our southeast to attack us because of the decline of people's livelihood. Now, we want to seize their benefits, which will undoubtedly aggravate their poverty, and make their country more restless. If their country is not at peace, then the whole world will be at peace!"

After Wu Yipeng said this, he secretly glanced at Yang Yiqing and Wang Ao.

Wang Ao nodded: "That's reasonable, but this time they offered it voluntarily after all! Besides, the world's population is increasing day by day. If we don't make the foreigners suffer, then the common people will suffer! But if the common people suffer, will the world be more peaceful?" "Of course, there is no need to make the common people suffer."

"I mean it's better to save money!"

"Now that they have paid the compensation, it's fine. We should give some money to the foreign tribes as a token of our gratitude and appease the resentment of the people. We should also save the accumulated national treasury to prepare for emergencies. This is the foundation for long-term peace and stability in the world."

Wu Yipeng said.

At this time, the Minister of Finance Xi Shu interrupted and said, "But saving money can only bring temporary peace, not long-term stability. The number of royal family members is increasing day by day, and the number of gentry is also increasing day by day. How can saving money be enough?"

"I just said that saving money is the best thing, I didn't say that we shouldn't increase the national treasury."

Wu Yipeng replied.

"How do you think we can increase it?"

Zhang Cong suddenly stood up and glared at Wu Yipeng.

"Should we survey the land or impose labor service?"

Zhang Cong replied.

Wu Yipeng ignored Zhang Cong.

Zhang Cong sneered and said, "I knew that no matter how much you calculated, you would still blame Your Majesty! In the end, you still want to wrong the emperor and sacrifice the safety of your father!"

"I don't!"

Wu Yipeng objected loudly and glared at Zhang Cong.

Snapped!
Simultaneously.

Wu Yipeng even slapped the table.

"If not, then you are advocating for measuring the land or equalizing corvée labor and apportioning the tax to the land?"

Xi Shu asked Wu Yipeng back.

Wu Yipeng wanted to say, "That's your Ministry of Revenue's business, it has nothing to do with me," but when he thought of how the emperor had criticized him for this attitude, he could only answer:

"Of course!"

"The key is to clean up the internal affairs and make some reforms that are truly beneficial to the people. This is better than robbing others by trickery!"

After Wu Yipeng finished speaking, he looked at Xi Shu with an unfriendly look.

Xi Shuze had achieved his goal, so he smiled and said, "This is Wenhua Hall, and you are here as witnesses. Mr. Wu is also an open-minded gentleman. I hope that when Mr. Wu really discusses this policy, he will not deny that he said these words."

Wu Yipeng looked at Xi Shu: "You!"

"Okay!"

"We must trust the character of our colleagues and not make assumptions."

Wang Ao then started to persuade him.

Xi Shu bowed to Wang Ao and then said, "Yes!"

then.

Yang Yiqing said with a bad face: "No matter what, no matter who you wrong, you can't wrong your king or father. This is something that a minister can't even think about!"

"Otherwise, are you still worthy of being a subject?!"

Everyone nodded.

Subsequently.

Yang Yiqing added: "Of course, we can't let the people suffer just to increase the national treasury in the future! Moreover, we would rather let the officials and gentry suffer than let the people suffer! If it really doesn't work, it is more in line with the loyalty and filial piety that a minister and a son should uphold than to wrong the king and father to make the foreigners suffer! Although it is said that a country lies in virtue rather than danger, foreigners have always feared power and not virtue, not to mention that martial virtue is also virtue! To ensure the long-term stability of the country, we should govern with virtue, but it does not mean that only literary virtue is virtue."

"In my opinion, when dealing with the people of our country, we should focus on literary virtues, and use martial virtues as a supplement; when dealing with foreign tribes, we should focus on martial virtues, and use literary virtues as a supplement!"

When Yang Yiqing got to this point, he asked everyone with a smile: "What do you think?"

"I disagree!"

At this time, someone spoke.

(End of this chapter)