My aunt is Queen Ma

Chapter 19 Headless Fly
Queen Ma felt sweet in her heart, but smiled and said:
"You old bastard, you're still talking nonsense at such an old age."

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "This is what's really in my heart. I can't express it in my whole life."

The couple stayed together for a while before starting to talk about business.

Court affairs, military affairs, people's livelihood issues, how to govern the newly occupied land, etc.

The couple discussed all the problems that had accumulated over the past few days and gave preliminary opinions.

The more detailed handling methods will naturally be left to the ministers below.

Speaking of the ministers, Queen Ma suddenly sighed:

"Bai Shi is getting worse and worse. He even humiliated the minister in front of me and Biao'er."

"If this continues, I'm afraid not only will government affairs be delayed, but he will also be surrounded by enemies throughout the court."

Zhu Yuanzhang was also very dissatisfied when talking about this matter: "Bai Shi's temper is just like this. I have persuaded him many times but it is useless."

"Before we conquered the world, he still knew how to be tolerant."

“Now I don’t take other people seriously at all.”

"Li Yinbing and Yang Xisheng simply disagreed with him, but he insulted them and accused them of disobeying orders."

"We didn't want him to lose face, so we dealt with them."

"But he not only failed to understand our efforts, but even became even worse."

Not to mention the new members, even the old servants would be scolded and humiliated by him if he was not satisfied.

"Originally, we wanted to support Liu Bowen to contain him and make him hesitate."

"Who knew Liu Bowen was so ungrateful? Otherwise, we wouldn't be in such a difficult situation."

Empress Ma shook her head and said, "Liu Bowen also has his difficulties."

"If he really confronts Baishi head-on, he will definitely suffer a more severe blow."

"Then the old officials from Huaiyou and Zhejiangdong will also be implicated, and the court will immediately be plunged into factional strife."

"The fledgling Ming Dynasty couldn't withstand such turmoil."

"Liu Bowen chose to be patient, also for the sake of the overall situation."

Zhu Yuanzhang said helplessly: "I know what you said, but apart from this method, I really have no other way."

Then he glanced outside the door and said in a low voice, "Sister, I won't hide it from you. We are doing this to prevent any trouble from happening."

Empress Ma's heart moved and she said, "You mean..."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Bai Shi's prestige is too high. His words are more effective than Biao'er's."

Fearing that Empress Ma might misunderstand him, he quickly explained:

"We're not suspecting him of having ulterior motives, we're trying to eliminate all possibilities."

"This is good for us, for the Ming Dynasty, and for himself."

For the group of old ministers in Huaiyou, does it make any difference whether the emperor is surnamed Zhu or surnamed Li?

No.

Anyway, we are all old brothers who eat from the same pot. As long as everyone's interests can be guaranteed, there is actually not much difference.

If something like this really happened, I guess only people like Tang He, Xu Da, Chang Yuchun and others would protect Zhu Yuanzhang to the death.

Otherwise, how could Hu Weiyong, a rising star, undermine the imperial power?

Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not know that Hu Weiyong would rebel in the future, it did not prevent him from understanding the reason.

Therefore, he supported Liu Bowen and others, not only to restrain Li Shanchang, but also to dilute the power in the hands of the Huaiyou faction.

How could Empress Ma not know this, but the direction of things still made her very sad:

"Now I understand Ma Yu's words even more."

"Sitting in this position, there are some things that must be done, and it's beyond our control."

Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy to see that she understood him, and he also had a little affection for Ma Yu:

"Yes, many things are indeed different when you become an emperor. Ma Yu is quite knowledgeable."

"You said in your letter that you wanted to pardon him. I think it's feasible."

"There's no need to find another excuse. Once the Shang Dynasty ritual vessels are found, we can pardon him on the pretext of offering treasures."

"It does not violate etiquette and law, and it also reflects the court's emphasis on Shang Dynasty ritual vessels."

Queen Ma knew that he was trying to change the subject, and she didn't want to continue talking about such a hurtful thing, so she followed his words and said:
"I thought you would execute him and then find someone else to take the credit for him."

Zhu Yuanzhang glared and said unhappily: "Sister, your words really hurt my heart. Am I such a person?"

Empress Ma laughed and said, "Well, well, I have wronged you. A prime minister's heart can hold a boat, and Chongba's heart can hold the whole world."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled brightly and said:
"It's not impossible to find someone to take the credit for him, but the cost would be very high."

“Not many people know about this, but not a few either.”

"If we really want to do this, we must execute Song Lian and all the spies from the Guard Division who were present at the time."

"Besides, we know nothing about Ma Yu's family background. He said that all his family members died in the chaotic world. What if this is not true?"

"Song Zhiwen's previous experience is a lesson not far away."

Song Zhiwen was a typical villain. His nephew Liu Xiyi was very talented and wrote the famous Tang Dynasty poem "Song of the White-haired Man".

"The flowers are the same year after year, but the people are different year after year" is one of the most famous lines.

Song Zhiwen was so shameless that he wanted Liu Xiyi to give him the right to authorship.

Liu Xiyi naturally didn't want to do that, so he rejected this unreasonable request.

However, no one expected that he would actually kill his own nephew for this.

Song Zhiwen thought that what he did was secret and no one knew about it, but it was still known to the world.

This is what it means that walls have ears, but there is no wall that is completely airtight.

Zhu Yuanzhang had the same idea. He thought he was doing it secretly, but what if the news leaked?
The point is, there's absolutely no need to take the risk.

"Besides, Ma Yu himself was a talented person. It would be a shame to execute him like this."

"How could we do such a despicable and unwise thing?"

Queen Ma smiled and said, "I knew you were not short-sighted."

Zhu Yuanzhang added, "But we must first go and meet him to see what kind of person he is, so that we can decide how to use him."

"That's as it should be." Queen Ma nodded and said calmly:

"Just be prepared mentally so you don't get mad."

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyebrows and said, "Oh, does he still dare to be so presumptuous in front of us?"

Empress Ma said helplessly, "I told you in my letter that he has a prejudice against the Ming Dynasty because of his unjust imprisonment."

"If it weren't for Biao'er and Chong'er helping to resolve the situation, I'm afraid he wouldn't be willing to work for you even if you wanted to."

"Arrogant." Zhu Yuanzhang was very displeased, but he was more concerned about the corrupt officials:
"The world is ruined by those corrupt officials. I wish I could chop them all into pieces."

Then the couple continued the conversation and talked about the "Ming Dynasty Law", which can be said to be the focus of the current conflicts in the Ming Dynasty court.

Zhu Yuanzhang directly expressed his attitude that Confucianism was misleading and that severe punishments should be used to govern the country.

He also used Ma Yu's words to attack Confucius' hypocrisy, and said that Mencius had no king or father.

"However, their ideas of benevolence, righteousness, and the kingly way do have some truth to them and can be used to educate the people."

Empress Ma quickly advised, "The punishments are too harsh. I'm afraid the roads will be blocked with people wearing red clothes and prisons will become a city. Qin was destroyed because of this. The lesson of the past must not be forgotten."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said, "Of course I know that, so I want to impose severe punishment on corrupt officials and be cautious with the people."

"This will deter all officials from being corrupt and perverting the law, harming the people, while the people can fully enjoy the benefits. Isn't this the best of both worlds?"

"This..." Queen Ma's face was full of worry.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was inclined towards Legalist thought in the past, he was not so radical and was still cautious in the use of punishment.

Unexpectedly, because of Ma Yu's words, he turned to the Legalists and even formulated the Ming Dynasty laws based on the idea of ​​severe punishment.

Although the severe punishments are only for officials, officials hold power. If they suffer themselves, will they not torment the people?

How could she not worry?

But she was not a law student after all. She could realize that there was something wrong with doing this, but she couldn't tell what the problem was.

For a moment I didn’t know how to persuade him.

However, the Ming Dynasty law cannot be fixed in a short time. I will talk to Song Lian and Liu Bowen later, and they will be able to realize the problem.

She also increasingly felt the shortcomings of Daming's current team.

In the chaotic times of the past, everyone’s top priority was to survive, and many conflicts seemed insignificant in the face of life and death.

The team is still united.

Now that victory is in sight and the world is about to be unified, everyone's minds are active.

Various conflicts began to erupt.

The key point is that as rulers, they do not have a clear idea of ​​governing the country and can only take one step at a time.

They couldn't come up with a big framework, and the people below were like headless flies, naturally everyone had their own opinions.

It exacerbated the conflicts in the court and led to constant internal strife.

At this moment, she wished that someone could stand up and give them some advice.

Ma Yu's figure involuntarily appeared in my mind. But...

This young man does have some abilities and knows how to govern a country.

But he is only thirteen or fourteen years old after all. Is he really capable of taking on this heavy responsibility?

Queen Ma was unable to give an answer and could only take things one step at a time.

I hope he can give me some more surprises.
-
After calming down, Zhu Yuanzhang was no longer in a hurry to meet Ma Yu.

Apart from the matters concerning the ritual vessels of the Shang Dynasty, nothing else about Ma Yu appealed to him.

But it is unlikely to go there to dig for ritual objects in the short term, so it doesn’t matter whether I meet him or not now.

What's more, he had been away from Beijing for so many days. Although Empress Ma helped him handle government affairs, there were still many things that had accumulated and required his personal attention.

So he was busy with these things for the next few days.

He also gave his own instructions on the formulation of the Ming Dynasty laws.

Severe punishments and cautious punishments were imposed at the same time, the former targeting officials and the latter targeting the people.

He originally thought that this method not only adopted the ideas of Legalism, but also met the requirements of Confucian benevolent government.

Both parties should agree and pass it unanimously.

However, just as he was about to welcome the praises, he found that he was met with unanimous opposition from both sides.

The Legalist faction headed by Li Shanchang believed that laws should be unified.

Shang Yang carried out reforms in the Qin State, emphasizing "one punishment," "one reward," and "one teaching."

That is, punishment, rewards and education must be unified.

Inconsistent laws will bring inconvenience to law enforcement, lead to imbalance in people's hearts, and ultimately plunge the country into chaos.

Needless to say, the reasons why the Confucians opposed this were that their ultimate goal was for the "Emperor and the literati to rule the world together."

You are now going to use harsh laws against officials. Isn't this asking for our lives?

Besides, throughout history, every dynasty has treated officials preferentially, which is why they have won the hearts of the people.

I have never heard of any dynasty becoming powerful because of its harsh treatment of officials.

Faced with this result, Zhu Yuanzhang was very angry, but helpless.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty had not yet unified the world.

Shaanxi, Shanxi, Shandong, Beijing, Liaodong, Guangdong and Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou were still under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty.

In terms of the actual land controlled, the newly born Ming Dynasty was far smaller than that of the Yuan Dynasty.

To put it bluntly, he was not yet the Hongwu Emperor who later became the autocratic ruler and had to take the opinions of his ministers into consideration.

In the end, the matter had to be put on hold.

But the matter was far from over. Zhu Yuanzhang found that after this incident, his ministers seemed to be more willing to give suggestions.

To be more precise, I prefer to refute him and teach him how to do things.

Even Li Shanchang was like this.

On the contrary, Liu Bowen became more respectful and maintained his authority everywhere.

Zhu Yuanzhang naturally knew what was going on. He was very angry and responded immediately.

Yang Xian was promoted to be the left chancellor of the Secretariat, and Wang Guangyang was transferred to Beijing to serve as the assistant minister of the Secretariat.

At the same time, Song Lian, who had taken sick leave, was given the position of "Zhi Zhi Gao".

The right to write imperial edicts and imperial decrees is Zhi Zhigao, a typical position of low rank but great power.

If these appointments are only for the purpose of improving the central institutions, it would be considered normal operation.

Then the direction of subsequent operations will be very obvious.

In particular, Yang Xian (Yang Xiwu) was the brother of Yang Xisheng, who was impeached and dismissed from office by Li Shanchang.

The purpose of placing the enemy under the nose of the Secretariat is self-evident.

When someone reported Li Shanchang for humiliating ministers again, Zhu Yuanzhang no longer gave him face.

Of course, he was not reprimanded in public, but was only fined for three months.

But even so, this series of changes were connected together, and everyone knew what the emperor meant.

Divide Li Shanchang's power as prime minister.

Li Shanchang's face turned pale, but he had no choice but to accept it.

Before the Zhejiang East faction had time to rejoice, Zhu Yuanzhang slapped them in the face.

Several officials were either dismissed or imprisoned, and the reasons given were related to Ma Yu.

The magistrate of Jiangning County who framed Ma Yu for murder was from the Zhejiang East faction.

This is not surprising. Zhu Yuanzhang intended to support the Zhejiang East Faction and compete with the Huaiyou Faction, so he must have given them some important positions.

Jiangning County is a large county under the jurisdiction of Yingtianxia. Handing it over to officials from the Zhejiang East faction can be used to restrain Li Shanchang and others in the central government.

When the Ma Yu case broke out, the county magistrate was imprisoned.

The Zhejiang East faction naturally would not give up on him easily, and secretly made efforts to protect him.

In prison, he claimed that he knew nothing and was deceived by his subordinates.

The constables and others who investigated the case all claimed that the county magistrate knew nothing about this and that they were the ones who did it.

So the county magistrate was sentenced to the crime of negligence and released.

However, he could no longer serve as the magistrate of Jiangning County and had to be sent to another place.

Currently on waiting list in Beijing.

Zhu Yuanzhang arrested the county magistrate on the pretext of reinvestigating the case.

Before the Guards could display all their eighteen martial arts, he confessed everything.

Then, all the officials who recommended him and had close contacts with him were punished.

All the officials who had previously come forward to protect him were also imprisoned.

The Zhejiang East faction was immediately silenced by this slap in the face.

After dealing with the two gangs, Zhu Yuanzhang was still angry.

Once he discussed government affairs with Liu Bowen and expressed his dissatisfaction with Li Shanchang during the chat.

In fact, this is also a hint. I am very dissatisfied with Li Shanchang. Don't be afraid, stand up and challenge him.

Unexpectedly, Liu Bowen said sincerely: "Although Prime Minister Li has made mistakes, he has made great contributions, has high prestige, and can reconcile the generals."

"He is the only one who can hold this important position."

Seeing that he did not accept the challenge, Zhu Yuanzhang felt unhappy and said directly:
"We want you to be the prime minister, what do you think?"

Liu Bowen actually kowtowed and said, "Changing the Prime Minister is like replacing a beam. You must use thick, strong wood. If you use thin wood, the house will collapse immediately."

"Prime Minister Li is a large tree, and I, like a small tree, how can I bear such a heavy responsibility? Your Majesty, please reconsider."

He refused to accept the challenge, and Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to give up.

After chatting for a few more words, Liu Bowen stood up and took his leave.

It was not until he walked a long way and confirmed that Zhu Yuanzhang could not see him that he sighed with lingering fear.

Then a wry smile appeared on his face.

How could he not know what the emperor meant, but he really didn't want to get bogged down in the quagmire of party strife again.

First of all, no matter whether you win or lose, it is difficult for you to have a good ending.

Secondly, he really doesn't like this kind of intrigue and wants to do practical things.

It’s a pity that the emperor refused to give him this opportunity.

However, he was not worried that the situation would collapse. The world was far from being pacified, and the emperor would not take any major action.

It is already the limit to strike a blow to the Huaiyou and Zhejiangdong factions.

But this situation cannot continue forever, and we will have to come to an understanding sooner or later.

But he didn't have any good way to break the deadlock, so he could only take it one step at a time.

In a word, difficult.

Zhu Yuanzhang was also feeling aggrieved. Before he became emperor, he was like a grandson. Why was he still like a grandson after becoming emperor?
Isn’t this emperor’s position in vain?
Queen Ma saw all this, but she could only worry and do nothing.

She knew exactly where the problem lay.

If the monarch cannot have clear thoughts, his subjects will naturally have their own thoughts.

It’s not that they want to rebel, but they will fight for the right to speak.

This is human nature.

If Zhu Yuanzhang could come up with a practical and feasible overall strategy for governing the country, many problems could be easily solved.

But this is exactly what they lack.

Thinking of this, she looked towards the Yingtian Prefecture Prison again.

So that afternoon he found Zhu Yuanzhang and said:

"Zhongba, why don't you go meet Ma Yu? Perhaps you will gain something unexpected."

(End of this chapter)