Chapter 193 Civil servants lower their posture
"Tell me, what do these officials think? Young Master Zhang has escorted the young prince back from his hometown, but he still thinks that the emperor has been defeated!"
"What's even more ridiculous is that when the rumor spread to the capital, the officials in the capital really believed it! Did you hear what was said in the Ming Dynasty Current Affairs Monthly? It revealed that the officials in the capital really thought that the emperor had been beaten. He was defeated and captured alive, so he directly asked for today's Xu Ge Lao went to see the Queen Mother to establish a new king. As a result, guess what, Xu Ge Lao didn't believe it and directly used Shang Fang's sword to kill a high-ranking official who was trying to cause trouble! Two more emperors appeared.”
"Then, the accurate news from Di Di came to the capital. The officials in the capital finally believed that the emperor had not lost the battle or been captured, and that he had captured the little prince alive. However, they were unwilling to publicize this matter. In the end, they said that he was only killed. Just a few dozen Tatars; but the emperor did not agree. Directly ask each of them to write an article to promote this matter, and write more than 10,000 words every day. Write 10,000 words. I have studied for three years and know that writing with a pen is not as easy as farming with a hoe. Don’t say that. Ten thousand words, one hundred words can kill me.”
"This is strange. Isn't it a good thing to capture the little prince who killed a thousand swords alive? Why are these officials unwilling to publicize it? And judging from your words, it seems that they are not willing to let the emperor win. They even I wish the emperor could be captured alive.”
Recently, due to the large-scale construction projects and factories in the capital, the number of people in the capital has increased. The new population has now reached 300,000!
Most of these people were workers and craftsmen, and because the emperor decreed the implementation of an eight-hour work system on the grounds of caring for the people, if they continued to work, the factory would have to pay overtime subsidies.
But the current Ming Dynasty's industry is not developed enough, so most of the factories are not big and there are few that need to work overtime. Therefore, these common people will naturally discuss political affairs when they are idle and bored after work.
Zhu Houzhao asked the Second Attendant to ask major government-run and royal-run factories to open night schools for workers, and the Ministry of Rites to order local governments to open literacy classes. As a result, more and more people began to be literate, and even if they were illiterate, there were specialized Newspaper reader.
Coupled with Zhu Houzhao's decree to encourage official and private newspapers to run newspapers, the people had more and more channels to obtain information and knew more and more things. Naturally, they became more and more interested in talking about state affairs after dinner.
A Ming Dynasty current affairs monthly that recently appeared has made a special report on the recent performance of civil servants on the capture of the little prince alive. The common people also know about this and find it interesting. After all, they also have feelings for the officials. I don't like it, I really want this kind of story about officials being slapped in the face.
Therefore, in a restaurant where this happened, several people started talking about it. One of the smarter people realized that the officials seemed not loyal to the emperor, so he asked.
When the commoner asked this question, the other person who was talking to him laughed and said: "There is no good official in the world. Don't look at them saying they are loyal to the emperor every day. In fact, their loyalty is the money in their hands. Not even as much as us ordinary people miss the emperor.”
"Bold!"
He Maozheng had tolerated the few people across from him for a long time. He originally wanted to imitate Zhang Zeduan and came to this market place to find inspiration for drawing a winter map of the capital, but he did not expect to hear a group of people talking about political affairs here. Now after hearing these few people. One of the common people directly said that the civil servants themselves were not as loyal to the emperor as they were, which naturally made He Jingming very angry. Therefore, he directly slapped the table and angrily rebuked these common people.
These common people only dared to discuss it in private, but they did not have the awareness that everyone is equal without fearing the officials and gentry. Therefore, seeing that He Mao was a Confucian scholar, they did not dare to get angry because he scolded them, but timidly said Checked out and left here.
He Maozheng was not a bully official, nor was he willing to meet with such lowly people, but he was still very depressed in his heart because he found that he had just used his status to stop the discussion of these people, but he was unable to do so. What's wrong with refuting what he said?
He Maozheng had to admit that many civil servants were indeed dissatisfied with His Majesty, and indeed did not want to have an emperor who focused on martial arts. However, he also believed that most civil servants also paid attention to the righteousness of the monarch and his ministers, and they were all loyal ministers. For example, he himself, Even he is very Xu Jin wants to say that there is more than one loyal minister in the world, but he doesn't know how to explain it to these people. He can't even condescend to explain to these people. He will instinctively use his status to explain to these people. Stop these lowly people.
Looking at the couplet behind him that read, "Care about family affairs, state affairs, and everything in the world," he became even more depressed. He thought to himself that your majesty's couplet was fine for scholar-bureaucrats, why should it be used for common people!
He Maozheng was not the only one who was depressed. Many civil servants were also quite depressed about this. They knew that what they did was embarrassing and even mentally retarded, but they did not want more people to know, or even let future generations know. They think this will discredit themselves.
Therefore, some civil servants once again petitioned the emperor to prohibit people from talking about state affairs, and at the same time prohibit newspapers from disclosing court secrets at will.
Zhu Houzhao simply pretended to be deaf and dumb this time, and ordered the cabinet to vote to reply to these civil servants on the grounds that the people's mouths were more important than the rivers. There was no way to prevent the people from talking about state affairs except to silence the people's mouths.
The civil servants could not, and some civil servants had to put down their arrogant attitude to defend the people through newspapers or speeches.
Although the common people were not that concerned about the right and wrong of politics, they had a sense of balance in their hearts. When some scholar-bureaucrats began to explain it to them, they found that they seemed to have begun to gain a little respect from the officials.
Zhu Houzhao was also very satisfied with the willingness of some civil servants to explain to the people, especially when he knew that He Jingming personally funded a newspaper to convey his thoughts on governing the country as a scholar-official. Although many of these civil servants' ideas of governing the country are wrong and do not conform to the interests of the people. Although many people have not yet had the habit of caring about politics, these civil servants can lower their profile and express their ideas of governing the country to the people. It's a kind of progress.
After all, people of one class began to learn to respect people of another class under the emperor's deliberate protection and connivance.
Moreover, Zhu Houzhao believed that although many people were illiterate, it did not mean that they did not know their own interests. If the civil servants could not give them the good policies they wanted, such as light taxes and clear land, the people would not be easily affected by these policies. Civil servants brainwash.
The scholar-bureaucrats and the common people are two opposing classes, and it is impossible for them to unite. However, Zhu Houzhao hopes that people from these two classes can understand that they are both subjects of the Ming Dynasty, and they are all people of China, and they are all equal. free.
Just because you are a scholar, you cannot bully the people without being punished, nor can you be unruly and disobey the rules just because you are a commoner.
If it cannot be changed that the scholar-bureaucrats can enslave the people and betray the country at will without taking on the responsibility of governing the people and strengthening the country, and if it cannot be changed that the people only want to be peace dogs but do not know the dignity of human beings, there will be no way to completely change the Ming Empire from a Confucian Neo-Confucian society. There is no way in the future to compete with a certain Western island country that has promulgated the Magna Carta for hundreds of years and the Western world that has entered the Renaissance and begun the Age of Discovery!
Zhu Houzhao wanted to be a great emperor, but he didn't want the land under his feet to be a country in need of wise kings and wise ministers.
From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, then to the Song Dynasty, and up to the present Ming Dynasty, wise kings and wise ministers suppressed land annexation and maintained the stability of the small peasant economy and created a peaceful and prosperous age. However, the unfaithful king and traitorous ministers intensified the exploitation and enslavement of the people, which led to the emergence of troubled times and the destruction of alien races. There is no need for China’s reincarnation to repeat itself again!
After all, if this continues, it will not only add to the family history of a dynasty, but also add to the hundreds of years of humiliation history of a nation, and make it unable to regain its former self-confidence even after a hundred years!
However, Zhu Houzhao knew that what the scholar-officials preferred to see were obedient people, people who would not rebel but only knew how to farm and pay taxes and be enslaved by themselves.
Just like the emperor himself hopes to see obedient officials who will not contradict him, who only know how to do things with peace of mind, and even be honest and self-responsible.
But reality is impossible.
Everyone has desires and the nature to pursue interests.
If he, the emperor, wants China to break out of the cycle of prosperity and decline after he takes power, he must first give China a driving force that can improve its social mechanism, and let people at all levels of the empire know that they are part of the empire. As a member, when the empire gained power, it also had The obligation to make the empire continue to grow stronger and prosperous requires people from every class to identify with the empire. To make Chinese people from all classes identify with the empire, the empire must have the obligation to protect every Chinese, and it needs to form systems and laws. To protect the interests and political needs of every Chinese person.
This system and laws are the most critical points for the empire's stability and even its continuous growth.
But it was himself, the emperor, who was most likely to undermine systems and laws. Zhu Houzhao himself had to admit this.
However, Zhu Houzhao has not yet thought about limiting his monarchy. First of all, most people in this era still do not want the monarchy to be restricted. After all, when monarchy extends to the clan, it is clan power.
If the ruling class of this era wanted to deny the power of the monarch, they had to deny their own rights in the family.
This is also the reason why the civil servants could not openly overthrow Zhu Houzhao, because they could not demand democracy in the court and establish dictatorship in the clan at the same time.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao promulgated the outline of the imperial constitution with the main purpose of protecting imperial power. From the beginning, he never thought that the outline of the constitution would directly become what it would be in later generations. After all, that would easily arouse opposition from the ruling class all over the world. However, through the outline of the constitution, Zhu Houzhao at least made officials start to change their thinking from rule of man to rule of law, understand their responsibilities and obligations, and begin to have some spirit of contract.
Thank you to the book friend Hua Chen for the reward of 100 starting coins. Thank you to the book friend Xingxingshiguang for the reward of 100 starting coins. Thank you to the book friend Xiaoxiaoxiaokeke for the reward of 1000 starting coins
(End of chapter)