Jiajing Chengming

Yang Yiqing shook his head and refused without hesitation: "Of course not!"

"Why not?"

Sheng Yingqi stood up disappointedly.

"Since His Majesty doesn't treat you as a senior minister, why should you bear the world's infamy for nothing?"

"You should understand that if you really want to revive the martial arts of the imperial guards, train military officers on a large scale, and make the imperial army strong enough to fight in the south and the north without worrying about the capital being empty! Then the scholars in the world will only blame you for instigating the emperor to engage in war and waste the national treasury and people's wealth!"

After Sheng Yingqi stood up, he looked at Yang Yiqing and replied seriously.

Yang Yiqing suddenly stood up and said to Sheng Yingqi in a stern voice:
"But this way, at least Your Majesty can see my loyalty!"

"So as not to be disappointed in me like you were with Yang Xindu!"

Sheng Yingqi took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and said:

"But the gentlemen who have been dismissed from their posts and are now idle will say that you are preventing His Majesty from employing wise men because the court cannot be truly full of upright people!"

Yang Yiqing smiled slightly at this time. He knew that Sheng Yingqi said he was thinking about himself, but he was actually threatening him. At the same time, he really wanted to return to office and take power again. Especially in the current context of the strengthening of imperial power and the weakening of scholar power, the power of bureaucrats at the local level began to be greater than that of the gentry.

Not to mention anything else, even when gathering together, a county magistrate no longer has to consider the face of a retired third-rank official.

Therefore, Yang Yiqing knew that retired officials such as Sheng Yingqi no longer wanted to be local gentry and wanted to become officials again.

Yang Yiqing smiled bitterly and said, "How can I care so much? Let them talk about their own gossips, and I will be the chief minister of Taiping!"

"Don't you really care about Shilin's future?!"

Sheng Yingqi asked with a gloomy look.

Yang Yiqing waved his hand and laughed: "That is the future of you scholars, not the future of military honors!"

Yang Yiqing was a military man and was awarded the hereditary title of a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard because of his military achievements.

So, strictly speaking, he already belongs to the military aristocracy, that is, a member of the military honor, and the fact that he is now a civil official is only because he happened to have the background of a Jinshi.

Because of this, Yang Yiqing didn't care whether there would be a flood after his death.

Then, Yang Yiqing continued: "So, I don't care about the future of you scholars, and I can't care what kind of infamy I will have after I die."

"I only know that if I don't serve your majesty faithfully now, I will really die!"

"After all, we, the ruling officials in charge of the military reform, have reached a consensus during the military reform that the emperor can execute military meritorious officials directly for disobeying military orders without going through the court!"

After Yang Yiqing finished speaking, Sheng Yingqi slumped back into his chair with lifeless eyes, but his gaze was still fixed on Yang Yiqing.

"You are truly loyal to your country, and you have taken the initiative to put shackles on yourself."

"But, since you are a civil official, wouldn't it be good to suppress the military with civil power?"

"Why must you help Your Majesty to this point, allowing your life and death and the life and death of the people of the world to be controlled by the emperor at will?"

Sheng Yingqi sneered and then asked about Yang Yiqing.

Yang Yiqing smiled, put his hands behind his back, and said to Sheng Yingqi with his back to him:

"Because the scholars of the world are too greedy and hypocritical, and cannot defeat the wise and powerful emperor of today!"

"From Yang Xindu, because of your majesty's conspiracy, he had to pretend to be sick and give up the position of Prime Minister, and he didn't dare to reform the country, and he didn't even dare to protect the etiquette anymore; then there was Xie Yuyao, because of your majesty's conspiracy, he had to watch his family being exterminated, and he couldn't even blame your majesty."

Sheng Yingqi took a deep breath after hearing this.

then.

Sheng Yingqi added: "In that case, could you please return our ice and charcoal to us?"

"What do you mean by ice toast and charcoal toast?"

Yang Yiqing was slightly stunned, then he turned around and asked Sheng Yingqi, pretending not to understand.

Sheng Yingqi gritted his teeth again, his face reddening, "Since you are unwilling to help the gentlemen return to the court, why do you have to embezzle the wealth of the gentry?"

"Let me ask you one more question. What do you mean by ice toast and charcoal toast?"

"What is the wealth of the gentry in the world?"

"Apart from the fact that I defeated Altan Khan this time, and was granted a first-rank salary by Your Majesty, and a thousand pieces of silk and a thousand silver dollars, I have not received any other wealth."

Yang Yiqing continued to ask, and his tone became stern and his face became ferocious.

Sheng Yingqi's eyes widened.

He found Yang Yiqing so shameless!
Yang Yiqing's expression became more ferocious: "I am the prime minister of the current dynasty, you are not allowed to slander my innocence so casually!"

"Tell me, what right do you have to ask me to return the favor at this time?"

"Do you have any credentials?"

"If you don't have any evidence, who gave you the power to frame a high-ranking official like that?"

"Somebody come!"

Having said that, Yang Yiqing suddenly yelled.

Yang Yiqing's servant knelt down and asked, "What do you want, Master?"

"Tie him up and send him to the Censorate to accuse him of slandering me!"

"And let the servants in the palace write a petition for me to defend myself and ask for resignation."

Yang Yiqing pointed at Sheng Yingqi and gave instructions to his servant.

Seeing this, Sheng Yingqi knelt down hurriedly: "Prince, calm down! I said the wrong thing for a moment, it's because I got it mixed up, I remembered the dream as reality! I dreamed that you accepted my filial piety!"

"I see. I won't bother with that. Let's go!"

"Yes, thank you for your generosity!"

Yang Yiqing sneered. Sheng Yingqi had given money to him and Li Chengxun, the bigwigs.

But Yang Yiqing bet that these people would not dare to speak out and damage their own reputation.

Therefore, Yang Yiqing had no intention of admitting it, and even tried to deny it forcibly.

Sheng Yingqi was so angry because he failed to get to the authorities, and he also lost a lot of money this time, so he suddenly asked Yang Yiqing to return the money he had received.

Now, after he came out, he regained his sanity and was no longer angry about this matter. He just went to find a few good friends in Beijing to drink and relieve his sorrow.

Zhu Houcong would rather expand the number of admissions to the imperial examination than pardon and reinstate officials, which really disappointed many bureaucrats and gentry.

They really don't want to be deprived of power for the rest of their lives because of a momentary stain.

What's more...

The expansion of the imperial examination system also made many bureaucrats who had already passed the imperial examination realize that this would make the bureaucratic group even more corrupt and allow the emperor to better manipulate these bureaucrats.

In particular, it will be easier for poor scholars who cannot pass the imperial examination quickly due to insufficient information resources and therefore have to waste a few more years in the imperial examination to pass the examination. This will make it easier for the bureaucratic group to be manipulated by the emperor.

Therefore, for the bureaucrats who have already passed the imperial examination, most of them only hope to narrow their upward path rather than widen it.

But for Zhu Houcong, he was the only official shop, and there were many people in the world who could be officials. He really didn't need to use people who had done things against him or who had been unclean in the past.

Moreover, he is willing to expand enrollment and let officials compete more internally, so that more bureaucrats willing to go overseas for experience can be attracted.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong did not care whether the convicted officials were disappointed or not.

However, there are indeed some bureaucrats among the bureaucracy who feel indignant about the offending officials, especially those who have feelings for and sympathize with the offending officials.

Zhao Dahao, a Jinshi who was observing the government, was upset because he thought that his father and brother who were dismissed from their posts would never be reinstated because of their protection of rituals, and that he himself would have to face many people who were not very knowledgeable in Confucian classics as his colleagues. So he submitted a memorial to the emperor, accusing the expansion of the imperial examination system of destroying the talent selection ceremony and abusing the prestigious position.

"Summon this person immediately!"

After receiving this memorial from Zhao Dahao, Zhu Houcong said this in a deep voice.

Because he decided to take this opportunity to make an example to prevent the bureaucrats under him from pretending to obey his plan to expand the enrollment of the imperial examination system.

Zhao Dahao arrived before the emperor soon.

Zhu Houcong therefore asked Zhao Dahua: "The emperors of previous dynasties also issued edicts to increase the number of candidates for the imperial examination. In your opinion, do they also destroy the talent selection ceremony?"

"Your Majesty, the previous emperors naturally did not destroy the talent selection ceremony, but now the world's population is fixed, and the number of talents is also fixed. If we admit more people, we will admit people who are not qualified enough to fill the numbers!"

Zhao Dahua replied.

Zhu Houcong asked, "You mean, after seven years of my reign, my civil administration is still not good enough to achieve a large population increase and a large increase in talent?"

Zhao Dahao was stunned after hearing this.

then.

Zhao Dahua hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, I don't! I just know that the world's population is not increasing much now, so I say this."

"You have!"

"You are denying my achievements in civil administration!"

"Since I took office, I have cleaned up the imperial farms, exempted bamboo and wood from taxation, collected bones, and helped refugees. How come the population has not increased?"

"Even if the population doesn't increase, at least more people will study! After all, I have also increased the stipends for scholars!"

"You are so bold that you are willing to make up lies in order to deny my achievements in civil administration!"

When Zhu Houcong said this, he looked at Yang Yiqing and ordered, "This man has evil intentions. Send him to the court immediately, sentence him to death, and behead him in public!"

Yang Yiqing bowed and said yes.

Zhao Dahua was shocked and shouted: "Your Majesty! Can't we even advise you to stop it?!"

Zhu Houcong said: "I didn't say that you are not allowed to dissent, I just don't want you to bully me or rebel! You have denied my achievements, what else can you do but rebel?"

"Your Majesty, aren't you afraid of being cursed for eternity by doing this?!"

Zhao Dahua asked again in a hurry.

"Are you threatening me?"

Zhu Houcong looked at Zhao Dahao and asked in a cold voice.

Zhao Dahua did not answer.

Snapped!
Zhu Houcong slapped the imperial table, stood up, and pointed at Zhao Dahua: "I am not afraid of your threats! I even dare to punish you twice as much."

"Beheading will be changed to beheading!"

Zhu Houcong said at this time.

Zhao Dahao burst into tears and looked up at Zhu Houcong with extreme anger, biting his cheeks tightly.

"If you say anything more, you will be tortured to death, and your whole family will be exiled to Japan!"

Zhu Houcong said.

Zhao Dahao clenched his fists and swallowed his words.

"It's okay to apologize and give thanks!"

Zhu Houcong replied at this time.

Zhao Dahua's breathing became rapid, but he had to crawl on the ground in the end: "I am indeed guilty of heinous crimes. Thank you, Your Majesty, for not blaming my entire family!"

"very good!"

"I will show mercy once more and change the beheading back to normal!"

When Zhu Houcong said this, Yang Yiqing and others knelt down hurriedly: "Your Majesty is as kind as the sky! We are deeply moved!" (End of this chapter)