Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 204: Civil officials ask Malacca to establish a Confucian state

Zhu Houzhao smiled slightly. He had to admit that these civil servants still took themselves very seriously, but he did not intend to continue to refute. In fact, he could not destroy the arrogance in these people's bones now, because this civilization and the people under this civilization gave them this arrogance. Only when this civilization was destroyed by foreign civilizations, they would realize how arrogant and blind they had been.

But compared with the literati in later generations who lost their cultural confidence, Zhu Houzhao now felt that the arrogance of these civil servants was commendable. However, in order to make these scholars aware of a problem they were facing, he had to raise it to avoid future literati making remarks such as "we need to be colonized for three hundred years."

"According to what Mr. Bian said, if the foreign races respect the scholars and officials, even if they raise an army to occupy our Central Plains and kill our Han people, will you still accept it as the will of heaven? Even the scholars and officials will accept it as the will of heaven?"

When Zhu Houzhao asked this, Bian Gong was speechless for a moment. He really wanted to say that it was like that, but subconsciously he felt that it was not right to say so. He couldn't help but think of the hot debate that had arisen recently, namely, whether Zhang Hongfan, who destroyed the Song Dynasty, was a traitor to the Han Dynasty and whether Zhang Hongfan, who was loyal to the Yuan Dynasty, was a loyal minister.

"I think this theory is worth discussing. What exactly is the Mandate of Heaven? Is it the Mandate of Heaven for those who respect the literati or the Mandate of Heaven for those who respect the people of the world? You should discuss this carefully and submit a memorial to me. If it is well-reasoned, I will accept it and bring it to public discussion and add it to the outline of the constitution!"

Zhu Houzhao knew that Confucianism did not have a clear explanation for many concepts, such as the difference between a country and a dynasty, the difference between a nation and a country, whether loyalty was loyalty to the country or loyalty to one's own king, and human rights. Although the literati instinctively used Confucianism to safeguard their own rights, they did not put forward the idea of ​​human rights, nor did they even raise the difference between sovereignty and human rights.

Ideas need to be developed, thought about and discussed.

Zhu Houzhao hoped that as an emperor he could give these proud scholars of the time more questions to think about.

"I will obey your orders!"

Wang Hua, the chief minister of the cabinet, knew that His Majesty the Emperor was giving his scholars and officials difficult questions again. Sometimes he didn't know how to evaluate these difficult questions posed by His Majesty the Emperor, and he couldn't even guess what the Emperor's real purpose was in asking these difficult questions, because he found that since His Majesty the Emperor raised these shocking yet thought-provoking questions, the Ming Dynasty's government and the public began to change.

Some upright Neo-Confucian officials also began to become heretical and burned the indentures of their servants and maids, saying that they should respect everyone's rights. They also petitioned the emperor to respect their rights and not kill those who were disrespectful because of their words. Even many court officials thought that this man was crazy, but the emperor did not punish him.

Some scholars even wanted to break with their own families, thinking that clans were the biggest obstacle to judicial justice in the court and the root cause of restricting the freedom of thought of scholars. For example, his rebellious son, although he was already a governor, never listened to his father, saying that he was a minister of the Ming Dynasty, not a minister of the royal family! And he could not refute it.

Wang Hua also had to admit that there were some narrow-minded officials and scholars who directly said that Confucianism was a doctrine that bred traitors, and based on the fact that people who were not of the same race must have different hearts, they believed that upholding the dignity of the Ming Dynasty was not only upholding the dignity of the emperor and father, but also upholding the dignity of China.

But no matter how many unorthodox remarks there were, Wang Hua knew that as the chief minister of the cabinet, his most basic job was to perform his duties in accordance with the outline of the constitution. Therefore, he responded now and said that he would think about this issue carefully according to Zhu Houzhao's request and write a memorial.

In Zhu Houzhao's opinion, it is better to let the scholars think about how to deal with the invasion of foreign races in advance rather than waiting until the invasion actually happens. Therefore, after expressing this question, he said to Wang Hua again:
"Prime Minister, you said that the surrounding countries have no intention of disloyalty to the Ming Dynasty and have already admired our Celestial Empire! But do you know that this Malacca despises the teachings of Confucian saints and does not establish a country based on Confucianism, but on the Persian way! He has long wanted to betray our Ming Dynasty and the orthodox teachings."

Zhu Houzhao looked at the Malacca envoy Muhammad and asked, "Muhammad, am I wrong? Your country has already disobeyed China, so why are you asking for help from China now? Why don't you go to the Ottoman Empire to ask for reinforcements?"

"Your Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty! Although Malacca was founded on the Arab law, it also paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty! It was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, Malacca dared to ask His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to send troops to help Prince Bintang restore his country!" said Hanmode.

"I can help you restore your country, but I have a request. You must follow the Confucianism of China to restore your country, establish the moral code, emphasize loyalty and filial piety, hold imperial examinations to recruit talents, implement benevolent policies, and reduce taxes and levies to love the people! You must not believe in evil religions or talk about ghosts and gods!"

After Zhu Houzhao said this, the cabinet chief Wang Hua and other civil servants agreed one after another.

"Your Majesty, what you said is very reasonable. The current disaster in Malacca is obviously due to the lack of royal rule. Otherwise, how could the king and the people be united and let a small Portuguese take advantage of it!"

The Minister of Rites Fu Gui couldn't agree more with Zhu Houzhao's remarks. He even couldn't help thinking that the fact that Your Majesty asked Malacca to establish a country and govern the world in this way showed that he still understood the ways of a monarch, but why could he ask foreign vassal states to correct their moral principles but not strictly require the Ming Dynasty to take the lead in correcting its moral principles.

"I also think it should be so. Since Malacca is a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, it should follow Confucianism as the orthodoxy. If not, how can it be said that it respects China!" At this time, Wang Qiong, the Minister of Finance, also added a sentence. At this time, the Malacca envoy Mu Han Mu De was somewhat reluctant and had to ask back: "The Ming Dynasty has never interfered with the vassal states in how to establish their country. Why are you forcing them now? Malacca did not establish its country according to Confucianism because of the request of the people of Malacca. Please forgive me, Your Majesty and the adults!"

"So, in your Malacca, you can govern the world even without using Confucianism? And you can convince the people? Tell me, what's so good about your Arab methods? I may let the Ming Dynasty learn from you." Although Zhu Houzhao said this to the Malacca envoy, he was actually speaking to the civil servants and scholars in the court.

Zhu Houzhao's purpose is very simple. If you don't help me force Malacca to agree to establish a Confucian country after the restoration of the country, then I will not let the Ming Dynasty recognize the status of Confucianism.

How could these civil servants not understand the hidden meaning of Zhu Houzhao's words?

Therefore, the Minister of Rites Fu Guixian panicked and immediately spoke before the Malacca envoy, and directly rebuked the Malacca envoy loudly: "This is simply absurd! Since you do not follow Confucianism as orthodoxy, how can the Ming Dynasty recognize you as a vassal! You are deceiving the Ming Dynasty, openly respecting the Ming Dynasty as the suzerain, but in fact you are betraying the Ming Dynasty!"

"That's right, Your Majesty! I think that the reason why Malacca was destroyed was definitely because it did not follow the teachings of Confucius and Mencius. Its so-called following the people's request and not establishing a country based on Confucianism is just a lie to deceive the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty! The people all know Confucius, so why do they know other saints? I think that what Your Majesty said is very true. If Malacca wants the Ming Dynasty to help it restore its country, it must establish a country based on Confucianism!"

Wang Si, editor of the Hanlin Academy, reported this.

"I think what Your Majesty said is very true. If Malacca wants the Ming Dynasty to help restore the country, it must establish a country based on Confucianism!" Wang Yin, the right vice minister of the Ministry of Justice, also agreed.

For a time, these civil servants were afraid that Zhu Houzhao would really be influenced by the Malacca envoy and no longer respect Confucianism and Confucius, so they all agreed to the conditions proposed by Zhu Houzhao. In their view, interfering in Malacca's internal affairs was not important. What was important was to maintain the orthodox status of Confucianism and let His Majesty the Emperor know that Confucianism was the orthodoxy!
Therefore, each of these civil servants demanded that Malacca must establish a Confucian country, and some of them even demanded it more strongly than Zhu Houzhao.

"Draft an edict! If Prince Bintang of Malacca does not agree to establish a country based on Confucianism, the Ming Dynasty will not help him restore his country, and will order the Malacca people who respect Confucianism to rebuild a new dynasty! The Ming Dynasty will confer the throne on him, and no one will dare to covet it for eternity!"

After Zhu Houzhao's words, Wang Hua and other cabinet members hurriedly agreed, and the Malacca envoy Mu Hanmode could not help but be greatly shocked. He had to admit that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty's move was very vicious. He could not use the reason that Malacca was the throat of the South China Sea and could not be occupied by the Western barbarians to threaten the Ming Dynasty to restore the country for his own prince, because even if the Ming Dynasty wanted to restore Malacca for its own interests, it could also not establish a prince who did not respect Confucianism to restore the country.

Finally, Prince Bintang had to express his willingness to change Confucianism to the orthodox way of governing the country, and was willing to study at the Imperial Academy of the Ming Dynasty first, and then return to govern the country after the restoration of the national order. Zhu Houzhao agreed to the request of Prince Bintang of Malacca. At the same time, he also appointed the Minister of Rites Fu Gui as the Prime Minister of Malacca, responsible for helping Malacca restore the country and rebuild the Confucian order.

Fu Gui was the most stubborn Neo-Confucian official in the empire. He was not good at fighting but was good at explaining Confucianism to others. Even if Zhu Houzhao asked him to write 10,000 articles for imperial lectures every day, he could write tirelessly. It was for this reason that Zhu Houzhao asked him to be responsible for helping Malacca restore its country.

The reason was simple. With the military strength of the Ming Dynasty, it would be no problem to take back Malacca from the Portuguese. Letting Fu Gui be in charge of this matter was undoubtedly to establish a Confucian ruling order in Malacca.

At the same time, Zhu Houzhao's doing this also meant to strengthen his control over Malacca. The Prime Minister was actually the real military and political leader of Malacca, and even if Prince Bintang returned to Malacca to become king in the future, he would only be a puppet of the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time that Zhu Houzhao appointed the Minister of Rites Fu Gui as Prime Minister, Wang Hong was also promoted to the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and the Left Deputy Censor-in-Chief, and Minister of Nanyang, specifically responsible for the war to conquer the Portuguese colonists in Malacca.

At the same time, Pires, who had transformed himself into an envoy of the Ming Dynasty, officially embarked on the journey to Portugal with the help of the Ming Maritime Trade Company, carrying Zhu Houzhao's letter of credence.

"Although this Ming Dynasty Maritime Trade Company is called a company, it actually does some colonial plundering. Otherwise, there wouldn't be tens of thousands of naval officers and soldiers on board. But now they are all employees of this company, and their status is even higher than Andra and other Portuguese on the same ship. But it is undeniable that Andra, the henchman of the Ming Empire's wealth accumulation, is now starting a new chapter in his life!"

There is a passage in "The Biography of Andhra" that reads like this.

(End of this chapter)