The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 316 The Appearance of a Half-Saint
By the end of the tenth year of the Xuande reign, with the consensus of the top leadership, a host of opposition figures were driven out of the capital. The remaining mainstream factions, driven by their leaders, successfully completed the reform of various departments in the capital.

This was a very large-scale purge.

The power structure in the capital was reshuffled, and in this turmoil, the high-ranking officials who stood against the cabinet basically ended their political careers.

To sum it up in the style of history books, "The Xuande reforms thoroughly established the Ming Dynasty's political system centered on the Grand Secretariat."

For Li Xianmu and others, this was undoubtedly a huge victory.

But in some ways, it's just the beginning.

Li Xianmu and his entourage not only did not relax, but became even more tense.

Because next, they will face an even more difficult group to deal with: the "literati-landlord-official" group, which is distributed across the vast territory and exists in every prefecture and county.

Many people know that the Six Ministries were the governing bodies in the capital, but they don't know that there were also corresponding departments in the local areas.

For example, the county government's three shifts and six offices.

The brigade was responsible for internal affairs such as standing guard, carrying out executions, and guarding the gate; the strongman brigade was responsible for physical tasks such as escorting prisoners and maintaining order; the fast brigade was divided into horse fastmen and foot fastmen, who were responsible for arrests and delivering official documents, and the horse fastmen had to provide their own horses.

This is the grassroots armed force used by the imperial court for maintaining stability.

Whether a county-level government office has sufficient control over the local area depends on how many yamen runners it can mobilize.

If you have too few constables, you can't even maintain local security, let alone go deep into the villages to collect taxes.

However, limited by the productivity of the feudal era, the imperial court could not afford large-scale public funds.

This is the fundamental reason why "imperial power did not extend to the countryside".

If the Third Division is a violent organization, belonging to the "military" category, then the Sixth Division is the "civil" category.

Corresponding to the functions of the six central ministries, namely the Personnel Department, the Rites Department, the Military Department, the Public Works Department, the Revenue Department, and the Criminal Department, there were approximately a dozen people.

Handling various paperwork and government operations.

Of course, a dozen or so people are far from enough; there are also a large number of "temporary workers" and "labor dispatch workers".

This is what is known as the hereditary clerk.

Although they had no official rank, they held real power.

When the terms "clerk," "lowly social status," "hereditary," and "powerful figures" are combined, one can understand the mental state of this group of people.

There was a reason why Zhu Yuanzhang, and society as a whole, viewed clerks and officials as thieves.

Therefore, Li Xianmu sought to replace the clerks with proper scholars and incorporate them into the formal bureaucratic system.

Because clerks are familiar with laws and precedents, they are the real people in the government office who actually get things done, while the officials mostly just do things that are done naturally without much effort. Therefore, most people's minds are either on trying to get promoted or on corruption.

The saying goes, "Officials are good at abstract matters, while clerks are good at practical matters; money, grain, and criminal matters are actually handled by clerks in the Revenue and Criminal Affairs departments."

This major reshuffle of the organizational structure in the capital will naturally trigger a chain reaction in the local areas, requiring at least one corresponding department for each department in the local area.

This will inevitably cause a storm in the local area as well.

One wrong move could cause a major upheaval.

The difficulty of governing a country is completely different from that of governing a province, prefecture, or county.

The policies of Wang Anshi's reforms were quite well received when they were implemented at the local level, which is why he promoted those policies.

However, those policies that worked well initially became distorted as soon as they were implemented nationwide.

The most important reason for this was Wang Anshi's poor personnel management; a group of people who only wanted to use reforms to get promoted and make money infiltrated the reform team.

In Chinese history, there was once a magnificent reform, and one saying from that reform had a profound impact: "If you don't change your thinking, you'll be replaced!"

Those who are needed for reform must first be willing to participate in reform, and beyond that, they must be able to understand the true meaning of reform; otherwise, they will only do more harm than good.

The same is true today.

Although the capital city is important, many things are easier to do under Li Xianmu's watchful eye.

However, this is not necessarily the case at the local level.

Li Xianmu has been patient until now in order to cultivate a large number of people who can implement his reform ideas.

The philosophy of mind, cultivated over twenty years, has finally blossomed in vibrant colors.

Without such a solid foundation of governance, he would not have even initiated such drastic changes.

Countless wolves and tigers set traps for him in the darkness, just waiting for him to fall.

Unfortunately, they failed time and time again because Li Xianmu never did anything without certainty. For example, this reform was something Li Xianmu had decided long ago, but he had been holding back for twenty years since the Yongle era.

It wasn't until the new emperor ascended the throne and the Empress Dowager had no interest in ruling and entrusted all affairs to the cabinet that he finally made the matter public.

During the Xuande era, despite being given such great responsibilities, he never mentioned it to Zhu Zhanji, because Li Xianmu believed that the late Emperor Zhu Zhanji would not allow the cabinet to become so powerful.

It can be said that it is only missing the title and rank to become a true prime minister's office, and now it has completed 70% of the journey.

Including another thing—

……

The 17th day of the first month of the first year of the Zhengtong era.

When Li Xianmu visited the Hanlin Academy, the academy was one of the most benefited institutions in this reform of government offices, as its rank was raised to the third rank.

Most importantly, the Hanlin Academy became the secretariat of the cabinet.

In other words, the Grand Secretariat was the emperor's secretariat, while the Hanlin Academy was the Grand Secretariat's secretariat.

In the past, the Hanlin Academy was directly entered by the best of the first-class and second-class Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations).

But this time it's not just that.

Apart from the top-ranked team.

All second-class graduates have a chance, but they need to be interviewed by a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet. The Grand Secretary will personally inquire about their qualifications, and only those who are truly skilled in politics will be admitted.

Those who were skilled in literature, romantic, or dissolute were excluded.

As they say, poetry is just a minor art!
According to Li Xianmu's reforms, the top-ranking Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) and the most capable candidates in the second rank would enter the Hanlin Academy.

Their responsibilities are quite simple: for major projects that the cabinet wants to undertake, they pool their wisdom and efforts to propose various feasibility studies and, from their own perspectives, list out the various possible outcomes.

Then he would write down his thoughts and ideas and send them to the Cabinet for reference by the Grand Secretaries.

This is actually the traditional advisory group.

By analogy, it's somewhat like the Central Policy Research Office of later generations, popularly known as the "national think tank." Anyone can see how promising its future is.

First, spend a few years in the Hanlin Academy. Once you are favored by a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, whether you are transferred to a ministry or sent to a provincial government, you will have a bright future. In the future, you will either become a high-ranking official in a ministry or a regional governor.

Especially now, there are nineteen ministers in the imperial court, far more than the previous six ministries, and nineteen governors in the provinces, so there are too many positions to choose from.

In this atmosphere, Li Xianmu's prestige strangely increased significantly again.

Because it's obvious to everyone that every reform Li Xianmu implemented significantly increased the power of the entire civil service and placed great emphasis on individual ability.

The current system is far more "reasonable" than it was back then.

Even those who opposed for the sake of opposing fell silent.

On the contrary, Li Xianmu didn't care much about this matter, because he had come to the Hanlin Academy for something important.

He wanted to use the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial College as platforms to spread his academic ideas to the whole world.

That's right.

He has kept his academic achievements hidden for decades, and he has no intention of hiding them anymore.

Who in this world knows?
Li Xianmu was a true demigod, with his highest personal attribute being scholarship. However, he had been disguising and hiding himself for the sake of political success.

Now he no longer needs to hide it.

The best student of the philosophy of mind in the world is not his senior brother Wang Gen, but Li Xianmu!

Li Xianmu began by recounting the origins of the School of Mind, interspersed with various pieces of knowledge that Li Qi had imparted to him, along with Li Xianmu's understanding of practical matters over the past thirty years, thus explaining the concept of "unity of knowledge and action" in the School of Mind with great clarity.

Several articles were published in succession and immediately became popular throughout the country.

At the same time, countless shocked gazes fell on Li Xianmu.

Naturally, it's because Li Xianmu never touched academia, and no one expected him to suddenly drop such a bombshell.

But when they calmed down, everyone felt it made perfect sense.

The saying goes, "Those who excel in learning will become officials." How could someone as gifted as Li Xianmu not understand such principles?

How could one possibly be inferior to others in terms of academic level in the study of mind?

He just didn't say it in the past.

Now that the School of Mind is popular throughout the land and the imperial court is in full swing, he finally plays this trump card, aiming to gather the support of the people.

This is how outsiders explain Li Xianmu's actions.

Naturally, no one could guess the real reason. After all, it sounds incredible that someone would worry about being deliberately suppressed because of their high academic level thirty years ago.

Those who excel in their studies will become officials.

Countless great scholars tirelessly tried to sell their knowledge to the emperor in exchange for high positions. How could they have imagined that someone would be troubled by being too academically and politically accomplished?

The publication of Li Xianmu's series of academic articles naturally caused a great uproar, with the most significant impact on the orthodox faction within the School of Mind.

Although Li Xianmu did not participate in the internal power struggles within the party, he was always regarded as a member of the orthodox faction, after all, he was as orthodox as could be.

This article has greatly encouraged the orthodox faction.

But they soon discovered that after more than a decade of integration, the orthodox faction and the outsider faction had long since merged.

At least the younger officials have largely integrated.

They were all later appreciated by the leaders of the Xinxue faction. Since their studies were similar, they benefited greatly from Li Xianmu's many new viewpoints and ideas on governance.

That would be a real hardship for Neo-Confucianism.

In the past few years, Neo-Confucianism had been eroded beyond recognition by the School of Mind. After all, the School of Mind was derived from Neo-Confucianism and was quite clear about its various shortcomings, so it was quite confident in its ability to counter it.

For decades, Neo-Confucianism has failed to produce a single master-level Confucian scholar, but suddenly the School of Mind has produced a sage-level scholar.

It perfected the theory of mind and dealt a heavy blow to the theory of principle.

Just as Buddhism flourished in the Yuan Dynasty because Taoism lost every debate.

Nowadays, every time Neo-Confucianism clashes with the School of Mind, it finds itself in an embarrassing situation where it cannot justify its own arguments, which naturally leads to a significant decline in the influence of Neo-Confucianism.

This trend has a tremendous impact.

In China, the victor has always triumphed over all. The Hundred Schools of Thought that once contended for supremacy ultimately met their only fate: to vanish or be assimilated and then disappear.

Previously, Neo-Confucianism could rival the School of Mind for three reasons: first, Neo-Confucianism had a profound foundation; second, political confrontation made its existence inevitable; and third, the School of Mind, as a newly emerging theory, was inherently flawed.

Just as Confucianism is incomplete if it only has Confucius's concept of benevolence, it is greatly different after Mencius's concept of righteousness.

What Li Xianmu is doing now is the work of Mencius. If Li Qi is the founder of the School of Mind, he used modern concepts, his understanding of the world, and materialistic ideas to integrate traditional Confucian morality with modern liberal democracy and other concepts to create the School of Mind.

Now, Li Xianmu is using his talent to smooth out all the incompatibilities between this school of thought and the ancient world, while preserving its core essence, so that the School of Mind can still maintain its vigorous vitality.

From then on, the philosophy of mind in this era could almost be considered an impeccable discipline.

This is a demigod!
He is called a half-saint, but in reality a true saint!
Faced with Li Xianmu's sudden emergence in scholarship, those schools of thought that stood in opposition to the School of Mind were naturally devastated, and those schools that were neutral and wavering were also greatly shaken.

When the School of Mind was gaining ground, many schools of thought planned to learn from the strengths of both the School of Principle and the School of Mind. However, now that the School of Mind has a new theory, their previous actions seem quite foolish.

Academia has even influenced political parties.

For example, the Jiangxi faction currently wields considerable influence in the imperial court.

The Jiangxi School was a purely regional political group that included both the School of Mind and the School of Principle. However, with the continuous updates to the theories of the School of Mind, the young people of Jiangxi, a land of outstanding people and abundant resources, were greatly shaken.

According to Yang Shiqi, Jiangxi is showing a trend toward complete adoption of Neo-Confucianism.

If Jiangxi were to be completely embraced by the Xin Xue school, Li Xianmu's rule would be fundamentally shaken due to the theoretical similarities and his prestige and status within it.

After all, the Jiangxi faction was the fundamental reason why he was able to stand in a high position in the cabinet.

Yang Shiqi just gave a wry smile and didn't say anything more.

That might happen ten years from now, so what does it have to do with him?

He was already over seventy years old and could pass away at any time. He had no successor and only one son, who was uneducated and cruel. If it weren't for his protection from above and the late emperor's gratitude for his contributions, he would probably have met with disaster long ago.

Given this situation, why would anyone want to offend Li Xianmu?

Li Xianmu's plans were far-reaching, and only now has he revealed such talent, which only makes Li Xianmu more awe-inspiring and he dares not say more.

(End of this chapter)