The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 183 The Imperial Edict Was Like Thunder

The offices of the six ministries in the capital were very close to each other, so what happened in the Ministry of Rites naturally could not be kept from the officials in the capital.

In this debate between the doctrines of mind and principle, many high-ranking officials, including some at the Nine Ministers level, remained silent.

Most of these silent individuals lack a systematic academic background; in the terms of the cultivation world, they are all independent cultivators, while Song Lian and Fang Xiaoru are from prestigious and orthodox sects with established lineages.

Li Qi, on the other hand, was trying to establish his own sect and challenge the old forces of the Demonic Sect. If he succeeded, Li Xianmu, Wang Gen, and others would become the new orthodox sects, Chen Ying and Xie Jin would be those who joined the sect with their skills, and people like Zheng Huan, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, would be outsiders who paid homage to him.

The reason why Xia Yuanji and his group were unwilling to get involved was that whether the School of Mind or the School of Principle prevailed, it wouldn't have much to do with them.

Of course, they still leaned towards Neo-Confucianism, because if Neo-Confucianism prevailed, they might be seen as outcasts.

There are real historical examples of this. The great philosophers of ancient Rome and Greece were called "pagans" by the later Romans after they converted to Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy in the Roman Empire, rather than being great sages of their ancestors.

This is why Hu Ying believed that Neo-Confucianism would prevail. If each person tilts their attitude even slightly, it's like throwing a speck of dust onto the scales. But if countless people throw it together, it will become a towering mountain!
Many people were waiting for the emperor's reaction.

Above the heads of the 58 million subjects of the Ming Dynasty, there is a sky, and beneath that sky, there are clouds that fill the horizon.

When gentle, it is like cotton wool shielding the scorching sun; when angry, it is like dark clouds plunging the world into darkness, with flashes of lightning appearing and disappearing.

The imperial edict came from the palace, its words falling like thunder!

As everyone expected, Hu Ying ultimately became a complete loser.

What truly chilled everyone was that many people thought Hu Ying would at least have one more chance to argue with the emperor.

But to his surprise, the emperor didn't even see him.

Li Xianmu entered the palace in the morning, and the imperial decree was issued in the afternoon. The palace envoy promulgated the imperial decree in the Ministry of Rites, and Hu Ying was demoted to Yunnan.

Hu Ying didn't dare to delay for a moment. After regaining his senses, he wasn't so stupid as to realize that this was a sign that the emperor had long since grown tired of him.

Xie Jin, who was more favored than him at the time, only hesitated for a moment before his place of exile was changed from Yunnan to the even more distant Jiaozhi.

When this bloody reality was laid bare before them, they had to consider one thing: was revitalizing the Xin Xue (a school of thought) Li Xianmu's goal, or was the emperor orchestrating it from behind the scenes?

In addition to demoting Hu Ying, there was another imperial edict ordering Zheng Huan, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, to temporarily take charge of the affairs of the Ministry of Rites, and to appoint the Minister of Rites after consulting with senior officials.

This decree also attracted the attention of countless people. It was not a simple imperial edict, but a notification that the war would continue.

Ministry of Rites.

Li Xianmu and Zheng Huan stood side by side, watching the palace envoy depart into the distance.

"His Majesty can directly hand over the position of Minister of Rites to you. In this way, you will be the Minister of Rites and I will be in charge of the Grand Secretariat. The matter of introducing the School of Mind into the imperial examination can then be successfully completed."

Li Xianmu spoke calmly, without any sign of dejection or giving up halfway.

"His Majesty doesn't want this matter to stop yet. He wants to see an even fiercer struggle. We are all pawns of His Majesty. This is true whether we defeat Hu Ying or continue to fight against Neo-Confucianism."

“Yes,” Li Xianmu sighed softly, “but this is the imperial decree; can we disobey it?”

“There’s no need to disobey. This is well done. I am the Minister of Rites, and you, Mingda, need not say more.” Zheng Huan said, but his tone was heavy with doubt. “I just don’t understand why His Majesty wants to suppress Neo-Confucianism. I don’t understand.”

This is something that many people don't understand. The late emperor adopted Neo-Confucianism because it had its advantages and could help the Ming Dynasty rule. So why does the current emperor look down on Neo-Confucianism so much after he ascended the throne?

Li Xianmu unconsciously looked up at the blue sky, a smile appearing on his lips, the reason of which was naturally inseparable from his father.

He said calmly, "During the Han Dynasty, the Huang-Lao philosophy was used to govern the country, which led to the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing. When Emperor Wu of Han first ascended the throne, Empress Dowager Dou still used the Huang-Lao philosophy to govern the country, and Emperor Wu of Han was unable to implement it."

You ask why Emperor Wu of Han insisted on suppressing all other schools of thought and exclusively promoting Confucianism, when Huang-Lao philosophy was clearly a good approach to governing the country.

Zheng Huan had never thought of this before. He couldn't maintain his composure and looked at Li Xianmu in shock, but he couldn't say a word.

Li Xianmu chuckled and said, "Which monarch in this world, who aspires to compete for the throne, is willing to follow the rules?"

The current emperor rose to power through the Jingnan Campaign, then punished those responsible in the palace, subsequently reinterpreted the orthodox traditions of the Ming Dynasty, compiled the Yongle Encyclopedia, dispatched a massive fleet to the Western Ocean, conquered Annam and turned it into a prefecture, and even unprecedentedly eliminated the Japanese puppet emperor. He also personally led an expedition to conquer the Mongols.

Each and every one of these things was done with the intention of making great achievements. Now, he has been on the throne for ten years, and his reputation among officials is still good, as is his reputation among the people. His achievements are also among the best of all emperors throughout history.

How could such a monarch tolerate the existence of Neo-Confucianism, an outdated ideology? His Majesty probably most wants to eradicate it…

He didn't finish his sentence, but Zheng Huan vaguely understood that the Emperor wanted to erase the traces of the late Emperor, or rather, surpass him!

Because the current emperor's legitimacy to ascend the throne is based on "eliminating the tyrant," and this tyrant was chosen by the late emperor, his execution of Jianwen is tantamount to negating the late emperor's choice. Therefore, he must prove that the late emperor was wrong.

If the late emperor was wrong, then he is right.

Although I dare not say it outright, I can do it.

This led to the emperor's various unusual behaviors.

These ideas were instilled in Zhu Di by Li Qi through their subtle interactions. As a master in the field of thought, he knew all too well how to guide a person and how to distort the truth.

The two legacies he left behind in this world are Li Xianmu and Zhu Di, who made slight changes to the original version!
Although Zheng Huan didn't understand the root of all this, he knew the direction he was heading: "What are Mingda's plans after this, and what do they need me to do?"

Li Xianmu pondered for a moment, then a fierce glint flashed in his eyes, and he said in a deep voice, "Since Your Majesty feels that the current intensity is not high enough, then let's make this matter even bigger."

Now that the Ministry of Rites is in our hands, we can issue documents to the provincial education commissioners, ordering the elders and officials of each prefecture and county to organize debate banquets.

Zheng Huan was initially taken aback, thinking this was going too far, but he quickly realized the ingenuity of it all. "You mean, we'll select people from the Ministry of Rites to tour the provinces and assess their results?"

Li Xianmu smiled slightly, "That's right. In this way, the world will be stirred up, but it will also be under control, which will surely satisfy His Majesty."

Zheng Huan thought about the possible scenarios and couldn't help but laugh. "We still need to discuss the candidates we send. They need to be capable of keeping things under control."

...After the emperor hinted that the debate between Neo-Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism would continue, most of the attention in the capital was focused on the Ministry of Rites.

Everyone wanted to know what Li Xianmu would do.

In a battle between kings and generals, Li Xianmu defeated Hu Ying, which was indeed impressive. However, if the Neo-Confucianism and the School of Mind were to engage in a full-scale war, he would be outmatched.

Last year, his senior brother Wang Gen went to Zhejiang. With the foundation laid by Li Xianmu, it took him a year to finally control the situation in Zhejiang. The philosophy of mind has taken root and sprouted in Zhejiang, and it is said that quite a few people have already joined his school.

But even so, it's far from enough.

It is obvious that the further down you go, such as to the county level, the more people study Neo-Confucianism. Those clans are established using the theories of Neo-Confucianism, so the School of Mind has no advantage at all.

How could Li Xianmu reverse this situation?

They soon learned of the latest documents sent by the Ministry of Rites to the provincial education commissioners, the contents of which left most people bewildered.

"A debate banquet?"

The most common sentiment was one of deep doubt: "The School of Mind is no match for the School of Principle. Isn't this just inviting humiliation and bolstering the reputation of the School of Principle?"

"Could it be that Li Xianmu, knowing the reality, wants to bow down and reconcile with Neo-Confucianism after removing Hu Ying from power?"

“There must be something extraordinary about it. It could never be that he bowed down to Neo-Confucianism. Li Xianmu’s will was stronger than steel.”

Many people noticed that the Ministry of Rites was making another big move.

"It is said that the Ministry of Rites will send special envoys to various provinces to inspect the education system and review the education system in each province."

One stone caused a thousand waves!

Just as the provincial governor system caused a great stir in the Ming Dynasty's officialdom, the Ministry of Rites' current actions have had a tremendous impact on the capital's officialdom.

Many people said meaningfully, "So this was the real backup plan. The School of Mind had no chance at the debate banquet, but if someone were sent down to keep an eye on things, that would be a different story."

Many people realized that this so-called temporary dispatch of the Imperial Academy Commissioner could be regarded as a miniature version of the provincial governor system.

The only difference is that the previous governor had overseen all affairs of the province and wielded enormous power, while now he is only within the education system.

"There's no need to guess. Zheng Huan, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, is now in charge of the Ministry's affairs. In addition, Li Xianmu, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, can directly implement the decrees signed by the two of them within the Ministry of Rites system. These people sent out must be the backbone of the Xin Xue (School of Mind)."

Some people asked in disbelief, "But isn't this tantamount to cheating? Can they force the School of Mind to win? Wouldn't they be ridiculed and attacked by the whole world for doing so? If they were to report it directly to His Majesty, Zheng Huan and Li Xianmu would probably be in deep trouble."

"How is this considered cheating? And who said they were forcing you?" Minister of Revenue Xia Yuanji laughed. "You are very hungry right now. I have a roast chicken and a cold steamed bun in my hand. If I throw away the roast chicken now, you can only eat the cold steamed bun. Am I forcing you to eat it?"
You could choose not to eat and starve to death, but you ate, and that was your own choice.

“I understand. The inspection from the Ministry of Rites is equivalent to an assessment. If one cannot satisfy the head of the Ministry of Rites, one will inevitably be in the lower-middle rank and will not be able to think about promotion for the next five or six years. So how can one satisfy the head of the Ministry of Rites?”
"Then we'll have to figure it out from below." The official in charge of the Ministry of Revenue suddenly realized, "When Li Xianmu sends these people down, he won't assign them any tasks or specify any particular goal, because that would give others something to criticize."

But they can achieve the same goal.

Because the promotion of officials in the Imperial Academy was almost entirely dependent on the evaluations from the Ministry of Rites, if they displeased Li Xianmu, they would find it difficult to be promoted as long as Li Xianmu remained in the Ministry of Rites. They might even be dismissed in subsequent evaluations for poor performance.

Before joining the Ministry of Revenue, the secretary of the Ministry of Revenue had also worked in the Ministry of Personnel, so he was all too aware of the room for maneuver there.

It's easy to find someone good, and it's also easy to find someone wrong.

In the performance evaluation of officials, there is a set of fixed phrases, which can be roughly translated into plain language as follows:

For those who have made mistakes but want to be protected—"Punishing past mistakes to prevent future ones, and curing the disease to save the patient, we must give comrades who have made mistakes a chance to correct them."

For those who have made mistakes and do not want to save them—"matters of principle must never be tolerated or forgiven."

Regarding those who want to be promoted after making meritorious contributions: "It is difficult to win people's hearts if merits are not rewarded. We must set an example and reflect our consistent principle of personnel selection, and promote talented comrades."

Regarding those who do not want to be promoted after making meritorious contributions—"They still have some immaturity and should continue to be trained. I think it would be irresponsible to put them in a higher position rashly."

For those who have always been mediocre but are sought after for promotion—"They have never made any mistakes, are reliable, loyal and capable comrades. Such mature and prudent people should be placed in higher positions as ballast and stabilizers."

For those who remain mediocre and unwilling to be promoted: "Useless mediocre people, lacking any sense of responsibility, and preoccupied with scheming, it would be a disgrace for us to allow such people to rise to higher positions."

Whether you are meritorious or demeritful, intelligent or mediocre or foolish, it is impossible for you to be without merits or flaws.

If I say you can, you can, even if you can't; if I say you can't, you can't, even if you can.

Li Xianmu and Zheng Huan, the two heads of the Ministry of Rites, wielded the big stick of evaluation, and the officials along the line of education in various provinces, prefectures, and counties had no choice but to obey. Once they obeyed, they would naturally suppress the voices of the gentry and scholars in the countryside.

"That's truly ingenious! With just a simple move, they've managed to get the local officials moving." The official in charge of the Ministry of Revenue exclaimed, "It seems the School of Mind is about to achieve a great victory."

“You’re wrong again.” Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Revenue, said calmly, “You have to believe one thing: the Ming Dynasty has never lacked people who dare to stand up to their superiors.”

Throughout history, there has never been a shortage of people who would resign from their official posts. Sometimes, reputation among scholars is more important than promotion in official rank.

In short, this is going to be interesting.

……

Ministry of Rites.

Li Xianmu stood by the window, gazing at the increasingly desolate autumn air, as if he could see the officials of the Ministry of Rites rushing along the straight road to various provinces.

He chuckled softly, "This is going to be interesting."

Then, turning her gaze to the palace, she asked, "Uncle, when will you stop all of this?"

I'm curious.

(End of this chapter)