The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 520: The farce of submitting a memorial to the emperor
In March, spring is warm and flowers are blooming, and all things come back to life.

This should have been a prosperous time.

But the Ming Dynasty court seemed a bit lifeless.

Wanli first asked officials of the fourth rank and above in the northern and southern capitals to submit memorials to explain themselves, and then he asked Li Tingji to join the cabinet to assist in the administration. This was a prelude to the purge of the court.

Those disobedient civil servants in the court were as heartbroken as if someone had died in their family.

They all knew very well that if they submitted a memorial confessing their mistakes, Wanli would most likely take the opportunity to purge them.

The problem is that they can't do anything without submitting a memorial to explain themselves.

Wanli has issued an edict, and if they do not submit a memorial to explain themselves, they will be disobeying the order.

It seems that they really have no way to deal with this rebellious emperor at this moment.

They have an army of more than one million at their disposal, and if they dare not behave themselves, they will die.

It seems that they can only drag it out.

However, this tactic of procrastination can only delay for a while. It is not acceptable if a memorial cannot be written for several months.

They had no choice but to rack their brains to think of the wording of their self-explanation.

The imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty were originally a farce. How could one confess one's mistakes and ask for punishment?

I don't know which civil servant came up with this idea, but for the civil servants themselves, this method of self-reporting is really good. They can decide for themselves whether they have made any mistakes or not, which is of course a good thing.

However, for the Ming Dynasty, this was an absurd farce.

Submit a memorial to confess one's mistakes?

Who would confess his own faults?

Unless there's something wrong with your brain.

Originally, when officials of the fourth rank and above in the northern and southern capitals submitted memorials to explain themselves, they would focus on trivial issues.

For example, "I am a mediocre person, but my gratitude for your kindness is boundless, and my ability to repay your kindness is inadequate."

This has nothing to do with the real purpose of the imperial examination, which was to assess the fiscal year's integrity. Even the emperor would be confused by what it meant.

Another example is, "I have been in the government for thirty-two years, am fifty-eight years old, and have lost three teeth."

I don't know whether this means that I am too old to hold an official position, or that I am young and promising.

In short, unless one has a mental problem and wants to commit suicide, he will not confess his faults when he writes a memorial to the emperor. Those with normal minds will only cover up their faults.

This time, Wanli showed signs of purging the court. What would the officials of the fourth rank and above in the two capitals of the north and the south say in their self-reflection memorials?

After Wanli arranged the tasks for Xu Guangqi, Bi Maokang and others, the self-representations of these officials were finally submitted one after another.

The first group of people who submitted memorials were all his trusted ministers, such as the chief minister Shen Li, the newly appointed cabinet minister Li Tingji, and the minister of war Liang Menglong.

These people were not delaying on purpose, they were indeed busy. The Chief Minister Shen Li and the Minister of War Liang Menglong were both extremely busy.

During the joint and palace examinations, Li Tingji was busy day and night just checking the test papers of the candidates and determining their rankings, so naturally he had no time to write a self-introduction.

Their self-confessions were relatively normal, at least they confessed some minor faults.

Of course, Wanli could not purge all his confidants, so he used gentle words to retain them as usual.

The next to submit their own memorials were the two newly appointed ministers of the six ministries, Lu Kun and Zeng Tongheng.

They weren't delaying on purpose. The key point was that no one else had gone up yet, so it seemed a bit inappropriate for them to go up first.

Once Shen Li, Liang Menglong, Li Tingji and others came up, they were no longer the first to come forward, so they followed suit.

The self-reports of these two people were relatively normal. They both listed their responsibilities and also picked out some minor faults, which meant that they did what they should have done, but their abilities were limited and they did not do it well.

It was impossible for Wanli to dismiss these two officials who were relatively obedient and capable of getting things done, so he still tried to retain them as usual.

Next came the Qingliu and Zhejiang Party officials.

Time flies, and it is already early April.

Early in the morning at about noon, as the sun was rising, Wanli came to the imperial study as usual, carrying little Zhu Changxun.

He held the prince as long as he could, which told the court officials that the emperor's son was still young and there was no need to rush to appoint a crown prince.

At this time, the memorial had not arrived yet, and as usual, he took out the Four Books and Five Classics to teach little Zhu Changxun.

Zhu Changxun was a diligent student, and his progress was rapid. He had already finished the Thousand Character Classic, the Three Character Classic, and the Hundred Family Names, and he read the Analects of Confucius one chapter a day. He had already finished the Analects of Confucius: Learning and was on to the Analects of Confucius: Government.

After Wanli held him and sat down, he opened the Analects on the table and read aloud: "The Master said, 'I have been talking to Hui all day long, and he has never disagreed. He seems foolish, but when he steps back and examines his own private affairs, he will find that Hui is not foolish at all.'"

This sentence is relatively simple and not that difficult to understand. It is good enough if you can read it so smoothly.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Well, not bad, next chapter."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun quickly turned to the next chapter and slowly read: "The Master said, 'Look at what it is, observe where it comes from, and examine where it is at. How can a man be old? How can a man be old?"

He was really a little confused.

These words were not complicated and he knew them all, but he had no idea what this sentence meant.

Seeing this, Wanli explained in detail: "So, it refers to what you have done, Suoyou, refers to the path you have taken, Suoan, refers to your peace of mind, and Sou, means to hide.

What this means is that if you want to understand a person, you should look at the motives behind his words and actions, observe the path he takes, and examine what he is dedicated to. In this way, this person will not be able to hide.

The superficial meaning is simple, but it is actually profound.

Upon hearing this, little Zhu Changxun couldn't help but think about it seriously.

At this time, memorials were also delivered, and Sun Hai brought over a large stack of memorials.

Now he only handles a few important memorials every day, and the other memorials are handed over to the eunuchs in the Imperial Household Department for approval.

Anyway, with the cabinet chief Shen Li blocking the execution, he was not worried that the eunuch in charge of writing would make random comments.

There were obviously more memorials this time, and they must have included self-explanations.

When Wanli opened the self-introduction letter inside, he couldn't help but frown.

These guys actually played this trick!
Little Zhu Changxun seemed to sense something, turned around and asked curiously, "Father, what's wrong?"

Wanli directly stuffed the self-representation he had read into his hand, and then opened another one.

When Xiao Zhu Changxun took the self-representation letter and took a look at it, his face was filled with confusion.

What are these self-declarations?

He was stunned for a moment, then asked carefully: "Father, why do I feel like they are talking nonsense?"

These guys are just talking nonsense!

Wanli opened all the self-representations and read them, and he couldn't help but snorted in anger.

These guys seemed to have discussed it beforehand. They started with something like "I'm terrified, I'm terrified, I'm shocked," etc., and then started talking nonsense!

What they mean is, you scared me so much that I started talking nonsense.

This is really ridiculous.

Wanli snorted angrily, "They are just talking nonsense."

These guys!

Little Zhu Changxun frowned and pondered for a while, still a little confused, "Why are they talking nonsense?"

That's of course so that I can't find any fault.

Wanli said coldly: "They are playing mad and stupid. They think that I can't do anything to them just by playing mad and stupid."

Uh, what I mean is, you, as the emperor, have scared us into talking nonsense, what else do you want?

Xiao Zhu Changxun was really dumbfounded.

Growing up, it seemed like everyone he met was a normal person, and everyone he spoke was a normal person.

He had never met such an abnormal person or one who spoke abnormally.

He was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help asking: "Father, what should we do then?"

How to do?
Upon hearing this, Wanli narrowed his eyes slightly and slowly calmed down.

There must be a demon in the abnormal situation.

These guys have clearly become abnormal.

What does it mean to act crazy and stupid?
Does this mean that once driven crazy, one can do anything?

(End of this chapter)