Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 235 An angle that Lao Zhu has never thought of! Unity or struggle?

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Shencheng.

As the sun was about to set, the big bell in the bell tower rang.

People who have worked hard outside all day are starting to finish their work and go home.

The streets were crowded with people.

Lao Zhu stood on the roof of a building, enjoying the sunset and overlooking the bustling crowd below.

Following the line of sight and looking into the distance, you can see a house under construction in the distance.

Shanghai is still expanding.

Compared to when I first arrived, the population has nearly doubled.

It's only been a few months.

Old Zhu couldn't help but be in a trance.

The more I calculated the economic situation of this city, the daily cargo transportation volume, the flow of people, and the circulation of money, the more incredible it felt.

When Lao Zhu first came to Shanghai, he was shocked by the city's architecture, but he believed that such a huge investment would inevitably result in heavy losses.

This made Old Zhu feel like a son selling his father's land without feeling any pain.

How much was the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue in a year? Although the "rebel grandson" collected business taxes and so on, it greatly increased the court's tax revenue.

Running a bank means you have countless amounts of money in your hands.

But it’s not this kind of flower!
Is it worth investing so much to build a strange city on the bank of the Huangpu River?
It was not until I began to study it in depth that I realized that the returns from building this city far outweighed the investment.

The street lights that seemed extremely luxurious to Lao Zhu before, but after calculation, he found that their actual cost was just a drop in the bucket.

"Shanghai's public security is not very good, because there are too many people coming in and out every day, and theft and robbery happen from time to time."

"However, there really aren't any large groups of thieves that dare to threaten the safety of the city."

"Even the bandits and robbers in the surrounding areas were wiped out."

Jiang Li reported the results of the investigation to Zhu Yuanzhang: "It is not only the local government offices that will suppress the bandits. If merchants encounter road robberies, the tax commissioner will also help them deal with them and eliminate the bandits."

Old Zhu nodded gently and said, "That 'rebel grandson' ordered that no city walls be built anywhere in the country."

"It is also said that the city and the outside of the city are one."

"The government must protect the country and the people, so it cannot distinguish between them."

"In the past, when the city walls were built and the gates were closed at night, people inside the city were safe, but people outside the city were in danger."

"From now on, the imperial court will no longer build city walls. No matter day or night, inside or outside the city, thieves and bandits will be able to hide and have nowhere to hide."

"Is that what he said?"

Jiang Li was slightly stunned, then bowed his head and saluted, saying, "This is what was published in the Ming Daily."

"Great, very courageous." Old Zhu praised, and said, "In the Anti-theft Office in Shanghai, no matter what time it is, even at three or five o'clock in the morning, there are always people on duty. As long as someone reports it, the constables will be dispatched immediately to catch the thieves, right?"

Jiang Li responded: "Yes!"

In the past, all government offices strictly followed working hours.

Old Zhu had already established rules before this, that the yamen would roll over every day, starting at chenshi and signing off at youshi.

That means I start work at around seven in the morning and get off work at five in the afternoon.

During this period, breakfast and lunch will also be eaten.

Most of the runners in local government offices would eat after their roll call and official start of work.

Breakfast doesn't usually take too long because there is so much work to do.

But the lunch time is longer, according to regulations it is one hour, from 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock in the afternoon.

In actual practice, the breaks are often longer.

Many local government offices even start to rest at 9 a.m. and go back to work at 3 p.m.

Because people have to rest at noon, there is a saying among the people: "early court" and "late court".

Early court refers to the Chen time, which is 7 to 9 o'clock in later generations.

Late court refers to the Shen time, which is 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. in later generations.

Only during these two hours will there be someone to receive you at the yamen.

If ordinary people wanted to go to the government office to handle business, report a case, or file a complaint, they had to go during the government office hours.

No applications will be accepted at other times.

Of course, this is for ordinary people.

If higher-level officials come to inspect, that would naturally be another matter.

At this time, the government office had no time to rest after get off work.

The situation in Shanghai is different.

When common people went to the yamen to file a complaint or do other things, they had to wait until the yamen opened.

But the office hours of the Shencheng government are very regular.

Unlike other government offices, they do not take such a long break at noon.

What's more important is that Shanghai also set up a special anti-theft department and many sentries on duty day and night.

Citizens can report crimes to the Anti-Theft Bureau at any time.

Even if it is the middle of the night, the Anti-Theft Division will handle it immediately without any delay.

On the streets of Shanghai, detectives from the Anti-Theft Bureau are patrolling all day and night.

Handle any emergencies.

Such as fighting, stealing and robbery.

All the detectives of the Anti-Theft Bureau are equipped with whistles specially made by the Ming Manufacturing Bureau. When they blow them in their mouths, the sound is unique and loud, and can be heard from far away.

When people heard the voice, they knew it was the constable on duty.

When catching thieves and fugitives, there will be enthusiastic people to help.

Police officers patrolling other blocks would also come to help when they heard the whistle.

Old Zhu smiled and said, "I don't know where that brat got so many clever ideas from. They are quite clever."

"That whistle has a loud sound and is easy to carry. It is much better than a gong for warning. It can also be used in the military."

It’s not that the sound of the gong is not loud enough, but it is too inconvenient to carry.

"It is all thanks to your Majesty's careful teaching that His Royal Highness has achieved what he has today." Yoshigaki immediately flattered.

Old Zhu glared at him and said, "You are becoming more and more like a treacherous official who only knows how to flatter and curry favor."

Yoshigaki lowered his head, put on a smile, and said nothing more. Old Zhu's tone was not harsh. After he finished speaking, he changed the subject and said, "Didn't Zhu Sun send a letter today?"

"Here it is!" Yoshigaki quickly handed over the letter he had just received from the post office with both hands.

Nowadays, the correspondence between Old Zhu and his grandson has become very frequent.

At the beginning, it only discussed the economic situation of the Ming Dynasty, and gradually delved into other aspects.

Old Zhu's admiration for his grandson grew day by day.

He took the letter, opened it, and began to read.

"I personally think that the court should not make arbitrary statements or intervene in the matter of Fang Xiaoru."

"Although in the short term, the court's support for Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism can unify people's hearts and minds and is conducive to maintaining rule."

"However, under the promotion of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the Ming Dynasty is now in a state of rapid change, and people's minds are changing."

"I personally think that Fang Xiaoru's saying 'the way of a sage is to make the world public' caused division and struggle among scholars all over the world, which was a good thing for the court."

"When scholars have disputes over their ideologies, the imperial court can control them and divide and rule the world's scholars."

"If Confucianism is unified, scholars all over the world will work together, advance and retreat together, and even fight against the imperial power together."

"This is definitely not a good thing for the court."

……

When Old Zhu saw this, he was stunned.

What Zhu Sun wrote in the letter was a completely new perspective on the matter.

An angle he had never thought of before.

Zhu Yuanzhang was deeply disgusted by Fang Xiaoru's theory.

However, Lao Zhu doesn’t like other scholars either!
However, in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, restricting the thoughts of scholars and unifying their understanding has always been beneficial to the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

This is also his long-term strategy.

Even the imperial examination system was reformed drastically by Zhu Yuanzhang.

The original examination scope was greatly reduced, and the focus was on the "Four Books and Five Classics".

No other content is allowed.

In Lao Zhu's consistent cognition, "brainwashing" is more important than anything else, and it is necessary to instill "absolutely correct" ideas into all the scholars in the world.

But Zhu Sun's letter put forward a completely opposite point of view.

The scholars’ thoughts and understandings were unified, and they no longer argued with each other... Then they had a common enemy - the emperor!
At this moment, Lao Zhu recalled the Yi Meng incident of that year.

He once ordered the removal of Mencius' tablet from the Confucius Temple, but eventually had to restore it due to fierce opposition from scholars all over the world.

There are also the "Guo Huan case" and the "Kong Yin case"... These two major cases were collective crimes.

However, the perpetrators were all civil servants.

The future of the Ming Dynasty must be governed by civil officials.

The Huaixi nobles who once helped him build his empire will sooner or later withdraw from the stage of history.

This is an inevitable choice.

Because any country that is on the right track will never allow military generals to rule the country.

If military generals were really allowed to control the power of the court, future emperors would be uneasy day and night.

When the birds are gone, the good bow is hidden; when the cunning rabbit dies, the lackeys are cooked.

After conquering the world, most of the generals should retreat to the second line.

You can conquer the world right away, but you cannot rule the world right away!

If military generals were really allowed to hold power, it would be a miracle if the country could remain stable for thirty or forty years.

There can be no long-term stability!
The dynasty lasted several hundred years.

After all, the principle that "the emperor should be ruled by those with strong soldiers and horses" is well understood by the rough and crude military generals.

It is inevitable for the country to be governed by civil servants.

Also the only option.

Military generals can be reused, but a country cannot be without them.

But to govern the country, it must and can only be civil officials.

But how to restrain civil officials?
Zhu Yuanzhang's previous idea had always been to restrict their thoughts, let them learn the words of sages, study the Four Books and Five Classics, and let them remember the ways of ruler and subject.

However, Confucianism itself contains many ideas that are unfavorable to the monarch.

For example, "People are the most important, the country is second, and the king is the least important."

Another example is "If the ruler treats his subjects like dirt, then the subjects will treat the ruler like an enemy.

There is also "The king is the leader of his subjects. If the king is not upright, the subjects will defect to other countries. The country is the leader of the people. If the country is not upright, the people will rise up and attack it"... and so on.

Moreover, even the emperor could not completely erase these Confucian ideas.

It unified the thoughts of scholars, so that scholars all over the world would no longer argue, but would make them all point their spearheads at the emperor.

They will unite closely and undermine the imperial power!

Yup!

That is indeed the case!

When Old Zhu thought about this, he became more and more scared.

He didn't expect that he had inadvertently planted a huge hidden danger for the Ming Dynasty.

What Zhu Sun said makes so much sense.

We must create division among the scholars of the world and prevent them from having unified thoughts!

No matter whether Fang Xiaoru's theory is right or wrong, as long as he can get scholars all over the world to continue debating, it will be beneficial to maintaining imperial power and the Zhu family's rule.

The monarch can take advantage of the contradictions between the two factions, sit on the mountain and watch the fight between tigers, play both sides, and use scholars to control scholars.

This is the way to rule.

On the contrary, if Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism were allowed to dominate the world, things would be troublesome.

On the surface, this would temporarily eliminate conflicts, eliminate disputes in the court, and make the court peaceful and stable.

But this has planted unimaginable disasters for the future of the Ming Dynasty!
"Don't be greedy for temporary success and leave disaster for future generations!"

Holding the letter, Old Zhu muttered to himself, "Fortunately, when I heard the argument among the laborers that day, I did not immediately send someone to convey the order to arrest and kill Fang Xiaoru."

"This person is very useful to my Ming Dynasty."

"Let the scholars fight... yes... let them fight! Let them fight!"

"This Zhu Sun is truly an extraordinary person! God sent him to our Ming Dynasty to help it prosper, hahahaha!"

……

(End of this chapter)