Chapter 225 No! His Majesty!
Xue Fengming left Wang Hua's mansion. He knew that from today on, he and his mentor had completely broken off!
Xue Fengming naturally knew that if he followed the imperial government's policies and relied on his status as a student of the first assistant, he could become a high-ranking official in a few years.
However, Xue Fengming could not bring himself to abandon Confucianism and become a jester, nor could he tolerate the emperor and the dignitaries in power sacrificing the interests of the world's gentry just for their own interests.
Dai Guan, the head of the Household Department, was like Xue Fengming. He could not accept that the imperial court gained the glory of opening up new territories at the expense of the interests of the gentry, and hoped to solve the refugee problem in this way.
Dai Guan was a native of Changzhou, Nanzhili, and a wealthy gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. However, he learned from his family letters that a large number of tenants had fled, and his income had dropped sharply. He also knew that it was due to the outlawing of the road guide system and the boom in commerce, so he had the courage to go to the memorial hall. thing.
"Brother Qizui, please inform the elder. I will not go to see him anymore. I will meet the saint directly. From now on, I am not his disciple of Liu Cifu, and I am ashamed to be his disciple!"
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Dai Guan said as he looked at the official Tu Biaojia who came to give him instructions on the order of Liu Yu, the second minister of the cabinet.
"Brother Zhang Fu (Dai Guanzi Zhang Fu)! Why are you doing this! My teacher is also thinking about you. Do you know what you are doing now! You are going against the trend! This is contrary to His Majesty! My teacher is not here now Abandoning you is a kindness to my mentor, but you are so disrespectful to me! Do you know what you are doing now? ”
The official named Tu asked.
"The Lord of Heaven and Earth is his teacher, and for the justice of Heaven and Earth, Dai is ashamed to recognize him as his teacher! He, Liu Yu, only knows how to flatter the mediocre ministers of the Holy Emperor, and he is in a high position, but he allows His Majesty to make enemies of the world's gentry and admonish him. This is no loyalty!
He even took advantage of the opportunity of holding an important position in the cabinet to instigate his family members to engage in business and mines to make huge profits, causing the people to be displaced and the fields to be barren. This is unjust!
Such a disloyal and unjust person! Why do I, Dai, recognize him? ”
Dai Guan also shouted and scolded loudly.
Seeing this, the official named Tu had no choice but to throw up his sleeves and leave.
When Liu Yu knew this, he was very angry. He slapped the table and shouted, "Okay! Then he should stop recognizing me as a teacher!"
Liu Yu shouted and sat back angrily, thinking to himself:
"Your Majesty has already said it before. The promotion of investment and mining in border towns is conducive to achieving the purpose of emigrating to the border. It is a beneficial measure to eliminate border troubles and is conducive to creating a peaceful and prosperous age. How is it unjust!
Since your Majesty came to the throne, there has been no eunuch dictatorship, the power of the cabinet has been strengthened, and the civil servants have been exempted from the ceremony of kneeling to meditate. He has also repeatedly rewarded gold and silver. How can he be the enemy of the gentry? Why should I remonstrate with you! ”
Through Xichang, Zhu Houzhao saw all these actions of the officials. He knew that this was a series of contradictions that would inevitably arise after he united with a group of powerful people to establish industry and commerce. The contradiction was between the traditional gentry group and bureaucratic capitalists like himself. Conflicts over competition for human resources.
Zhu Houzhao looked at Dai Guan in front of him and wanted to say something, but when he thought about it, he really didn't need to say anything to the head of the household department, so he said:
"Forget it, just step down! The decree is sent to the General Administration Department. From now on, memorials from all officials will no longer need to be submitted to the cabinet, except for memorials from ministries, governors, inspectors, envoys and other practical officials such as the Sixth Section Correspondent Officer. , you don’t even have to accept the memorial anymore Shu! At the same time, the people of the Ming Dynasty can discuss politics, but they must do so in an orderly manner. From now on, the General Affairs Department will select a group of political councilors every five years, and the personnel will be approved by the cabinet and me. The General Affairs Department will hold a political meeting every five years;
This group of councilors can raise political issues at the council meeting, and I will listen to them and select those that are useful! ”
"Next year, the 10th year of Zhengde's reign, will be the first political meeting, which will be presided over by the General Affairs Department. From now on, the General Affairs Department will not be affiliated with the cabinet, but will be under my direct jurisdiction like the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Ministry of Justice, the Cabinet, and the Privy Council of the Guards."
As Zhu Houzhao spoke, he threw the admonishment note from Dai Guan, the head of the Ministry of Household Affairs, in front of him:
"Take your memorial back by yourself. If you have any objections to the government, you can raise it when the political meeting is held next year, but the premise is that the General Affairs Department will elect you as a political member. Remember to do your job well. I don't have to give it to you. He said, it’s your boss who should tell you, but now that I’ve met you, I’ll tell you that if you don’t do your job well, someone will naturally hold you accountable and fire you!”
As Zhu Houzhao spoke, he simply ignored Dai Guan and ordered Wang Qiong, a cabinet scholar:
"Divide the memorials into separate parts, and no longer approve or send back any matters that do not involve the official's duties. From now on, the cabinet will only deal with practical matters and formulate political plans!
This is naturally more efficient. You don't have to spend energy explaining every court policy. For specific policy explanations, each ministry has a spokesperson, who is given the title of chief, and is responsible for explaining it to the people. Your cabinet also has a spokesperson!
Let me just tell you, why are you so busy every day, but in the end, you don't do much serious work? Most of your time is busy approving officials from all over the world to discuss politics. Naturally, you don't have much time to do a few major things that benefit the people. ”
Zhu Houzhao asked Wang Qiong to take action.
"Yes, I obey your order!"
Wang Qiong looked confused. He didn't understand what His Majesty was thinking. He thought that His Majesty would question Dai Guan for a few words, or even scold him angrily, and explain the benefits of the court's current policy through scolding, and then Dai Guan might still remain the same. His stubbornness angered Long Yan, and he was eventually executed or demoted by his majesty.
However, Wang Qiong did not expect that the development of the incident would lead to His Majesty suddenly issuing an order for the General Secretary to prepare to host a political meeting next year, and once every five years. This made him confused. What does it matter? It doesn't seem to mean that the world's scholars are prohibited from discussing state affairs arbitrarily, but it seems to be somewhat different from the current discussion of state affairs.
Although Wang Qiong was suspicious in his heart, on the surface he still followed Zhu Houzhao's instructions obediently. He picked out some memorials that did not involve practical matters and sent them all back to the General Affairs Department according to Zhu Houzhao's instructions. At the same time, he only dealt with the Memorials involving practical matters are coming.
Wang Qiong had to admit that this was indeed much more efficient, and he did not have to go to great lengths to explain to the officials and gentry all over the world why the government was executed in this way and to blame them.
Dai Guan was dumbfounded. He came here with the determination to die. He originally thought that His Majesty would reprimand him loudly, but he could take this opportunity to speak out and rebuke him again. Even if he could not make His Majesty change his mind, he could still make him change his mind. Seeing the determination of civil servants and gentry like myself.
But what Dai Guan didn't expect was that although the emperor summoned him and was really angry at first, he was now very calm, and he regarded him as nothing, and even only talked to Wang Qiong, the cabinet scholar. .
What made Dai Guan even more unexpected was that His Majesty the Emperor actually asked the Secretary of General Affairs to preside over some political meeting, and also sent back most of the memorials submitted to the cabinet by the Secretary of General Affairs, which were submitted by officials and gentry from all over the world. Moreover, Calling back without approval is frustrating The man wearing the crown realized that His Majesty the Emperor meant to no longer let the scholar-bureaucrats influence the government, so he fell to the ground and cried loudly: "Your Majesty, this is not allowed! Don't block the way of speech! It is unbecoming of a king to fail to approve memorials and omissions. ! ”
Zhu Houzhao's situation has changed. He is too lazy to pay attention to matters such as the imperial censor Yan Guan and the doctor in charge, and he doesn't even think about beheading him because of it. In the eyes of Zhu Houzhao now, these are nothing. They were just trolls of the Ming Dynasty who were fooling around. There was no need to listen to them, so Zhu Houzhao chose to throw away all these memorials and unify them. Throw away the president and only let the cabinet handle business. However, in order to show respect for the rights of the people (currently mainly scholars) to discuss politics, he can give these trolls a chance to make nonsense, but he, the emperor, and the cabinet cannot have free time every day. Listening to the nonsense of the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty can only happen once every five years, and it is impossible to listen to everyone's nonsense, so you can only choose a few representatives.
(End of chapter)