Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 239 Your Majesty, You Are Right. I Want to Resign
Wang Hua, the chief minister of the cabinet, would never have imagined that nearly two hundred years after the death of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, the cruel punishment of skinning and stuffing with straw to punish corruption would appear again.

But this time it happened because of the pressure of public opinion.

No one could point out that this was caused by the emperor's cruelty.

"Now, His Majesty the Emperor still cares about us ordinary people. Even if the officials of the Ministry of Justice want to protect a corrupt official like Lu Zhaoji, after we ordinary people demanded that this corrupt official be severely punished according to the law, our Emperor still followed the wishes of us ordinary people!"

"Yes, the current emperor is indeed a good emperor. He has made us common people literate, and our children able to go to school. He has also reduced taxes and rents. We really have to chant for him!"

……

When Wang Hua was on a secret visit, he could only shake his head and smile bitterly after hearing these discussions. He knew that if he told these people at this time that the current emperor was a cruel and ruthless monarch, and even forced Lu Zhaoji to be skinned and stuffed with straw just because Lu Zhaoji said that the emperor was ignorant and the queen was unvirtuous, these people would definitely not believe it, and would even beat him, angrily scolding him for being a relative of a corrupt official and slandering the emperor because he had complaints against the emperor.

Wang Hua had to admit that his group of civil servants had failed to turn the Emperor into a wise and enlightened emperor in accordance with Confucian ethics. It was not because these civil officials were not smart enough, but because the Emperor seemed to know more than these civil officials, especially in terms of governing the country. The current emperor seemed to have many practical and mature theories of governance.

Wang Hua knew that the current emperor was able to use the people to build momentum and successfully use public opinion to force the civil service group to crack down on disloyal ministers because His Majesty the Emperor had implemented universal education and improved the people's literacy rate several years ago, resulting in most civilians becoming scholars.

As a result, more and more people began to pay attention to the rise and fall of the country, especially the increasing number of scholars from poor families. It was obvious that the Loyalty to the Emperor Society was becoming more and more large and even well organized. This time, the court was able to skin Lu Zhaoji and stuff him with straw because Tang Bohu used the Loyalty to the Emperor Society to organize a powerful demonstration team.

Wang Hua did not expect that the "universal education" and "literacy campaign" implemented by his Majesty the Emperor several years ago would lead to the phenomenon that the people would be difficult to manage, officials would be difficult to be officials, and even more difficult to advise the emperor.

“At first, I just thought that studying is good governance, and letting people learn literature and martial arts is good for the country and the nation, and it is the right way!

Therefore, we support Your Majesty in doing this and even submit congratulatory messages to praise it, saying that it is Your Majesty's benevolent policy!
But I never expected that doing so would make the people of the world even more difficult to control. The people can be allowed to follow what they want but cannot be made to understand it. Could it be that the original intention of the sages is that the people can be allowed to follow what they want but cannot be made to understand it?
Could it be that the saints really believe that keeping the people ignorant is the basis of governing a country? If so, how can academic research be good governance? "

Wang Hua felt that he was becoming increasingly confused about the fundamental philosophy of Confucian governance that he had learned. He was reluctant to admit that the Confucian ethics that he had followed for many years was a policy to keep the people ignorant, and he was also unwilling to believe that the saints really wanted to make the people ignorant. But he had to admit that it seemed that making the people a little stupider seemed to make it easier to govern. Similarly, it seemed that if the emperor was too wise, it would be uncomfortable to be a court official.

Wang Hua angrily slammed the Analects in his hand on the table: "Why, the ancient sages did not add punctuation to their books! How can people today interpret it! If it is misinterpreted, wouldn't it really cause endless harm to the world? Which is better, to fool the people or to enlighten them!"

Wang Hua was very confused. He felt that he had lived in vain for decades. He regarded the Four Books and Five Classics annotated by Zhu Xi as the only truth for self-cultivation and governance. As a result, he only found out now that the Confucian teachings annotated by Zhu Xi had never figured out the true meaning of the saints from the beginning! Otherwise, the civil servants would not be forced by His Majesty to learn arithmetic and Mohism.

In any case, Wang Hua is now more and more in awe of Zhu Houzhao. He doesn't know what his majesty has learned, why he knew the way of money ten years ago, set up the Royal Bank, and tied his Wang family and several other families together, forcing his Wang family and several other families to find ways to increase income for the national treasury.

Moreover, the purpose is not always so noble. Wang Hua does not think that Jiao Fang and several eunuchs such as Liu Jin are really thinking about the Ming Dynasty. He knows that they try their best to increase the income of the national treasury because only by increasing the income of the national treasury can the profits of the Royal Bank increase and their family can obtain more benefits.

But it was precisely this purpose that made these officials inside and outside the country follow His Majesty's reforms wholeheartedly, first testing their legal skills and then surveying the land, and even recovering the Hetao area and opening up border trade with Guangdong and Guangxi. Even they themselves agreed to the policy of abolishing the road permit system and immigrating to the border.

What Wang Hua admired most about Emperor Zhu Houzhao was that he was able to establish a more reasonable system and even invented many new words. For example, Wang Hua didn't know when he no longer felt surprised when he thought of the word "system", and even the concepts of economy, country, and civilization.

"No wonder my son would say that His Majesty is the greatest saintly ruler in ancient and modern times. However, Wang Yun seems to be much smarter than his father, the number one scholar and the prime minister. He realized many years ago that His Majesty is not an ordinary person, and donated all his family property to support His Majesty, which brought great wealth and power to the Wang family. He also figured out the study of the mind and founded his own school!"

As Wang Hua thought about it, he thought of his son Wang Shouren who was far away in Jiangxi. He couldn't help but reveal a hint of pride on his face, thinking that perhaps his son understood His Majesty better than he did.

Although Wang Hua admitted that Emperor Zhu Houzhao was not a simple emperor, he really couldn't like him. He always felt that his Majesty was not like a normal emperor, but like a son of heaven who had just become an emperor from a commoner. He seemed to have a natural hostility towards officials like him, but a natural pity for common people. He didn't even care whether his Zhu family's kingdom could be passed down forever, and he only cared about whether Chinese civilization could prosper.

Wang Hua clearly remembered that when the emperor was forced into a corner, he said, "At worst, I will return to the people, occupy the mountains, become a king, and rebel again."

"Your Majesty, could it be that you are the reincarnation of Taizu?" Wang Hua thought to himself. At this moment, he saw Zhu Houzhao appear in the cabinet and the Silijian duty room. He quickly put away the Analects and stood up to salute: "Greetings, Your Majesty!"

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but laugh when he saw this: "The Prime Minister still has the leisure to read the Analects. Are you going to follow Zhao Pu's example and use half of the Analects to rule the world for me?"

"Your Majesty, please laugh. I am just confused about what I have learned recently. I don't know which words of the sages are the truth, and I have been thinking hard about it," Wang Hua replied.

"Truth is not something that can be spoken by saints, but something that you discover yourself. You can only know whether tea is bitter by drinking it yourself. What do you think, Prime Minister?"

Zhu Houzhao replied that he knew that he had recently instructed the Hanlin Academy and his own attendant scholars to re-evaluate and supervise the civil servants and Jinshi all over the world, which made the civil servants all panic and afraid of making any mistakes. They all became very well-behaved. Even the Prime Minister Wang Hua just read books and newspapers and no longer made comments easily.

Zhu Houzhao could also guess that these literati and scholars must have had a new understanding of public opinion, and would certainly gradually realize the power of the common people and some of the inherent contradictions between themselves as officials and rulers and the common people because of these recent events.

In order to prevent these scholars and officials, especially the civil servants in the court, from becoming more selfish, and only knowing that enlightening the people will make them difficult to manage but not knowing that enlightening the people will lead to the progress of the country and the nation, he will now find the right opportunity to enlighten some of the civil servants around him.

“You have to discover the truth yourself?”

Zhu Houzhao's seemingly unintentional words stirred a wave in Wang Hua's heart. He felt that Zhu Houzhao's words had the effect of enlightening him, making him realize that he had always forgotten that the fundamental principle of studying and governing the country is not to study but to think. So, he bowed deeply to Zhu Houzhao:

"Thank you for your teaching, Your Majesty. Mencius said that it is better to have no books than to believe in them completely. Now I think this is the truth. I have decided to resign and study again. I hope Your Majesty will grant my approval!"

Zhu Houzhao was a little stunned, thinking that the fundamental purpose of his casual remark just now was just to make civil servants like Wang Hua understand that they should think proactively and not be constrained by Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism. However, he did not expect that it would make Wang Hua think directly about resigning.

"This is quite sudden. Tell me your reasons," Zhu Houzhao said.

"Your Majesty's words just now made me realize that what I have learned are all the words of others. I am still not as good as you, and I have not been able to find what I believe is the truth of the world. Therefore, I cannot become a great scholar, and I cannot be a capable minister in governing the country. Moreover, I think Your Majesty needs a capable minister who can deal with complex situations and dare to innovate as the chief assistant. Although I have good morals, I lack wisdom. Assisting Your Majesty for three to five years may ensure peace in the world, but if I stay for a few more years, I will only harm the country, the emperor, and the world!"

Wang Hua replied.

"You are already over 70 years old. Well, I will grant your request. But since you want to study again, you don't have to go back to your hometown. The Ming Dynasty is in the midst of a transformation and is short of talent. If you are interested in serving the country, can you teach at the National Academy of Administration and give classes to those officials who will become important officials of the country in the future, teach them how to be an official, and pass on your experience in managing the Ministry of Revenue and using the Royal Bank to allocate money and grain throughout the country!"

Zhu Houzhao asked.

Wang Hua naturally would not refuse. Serving the country with all his heart and soul until his death was his belief, so he quickly agreed.

However, before Wang Hua resigned from his position as prime minister to teach at the National School of Administration, he used his power as prime minister to preside over the last court meeting after obtaining Zhu Houzhao's approval.

For this court meeting, he summoned all the civil servants in the capital. He wanted to give some advice to the civil servants of the Zhengde Dynasty before resigning.

After all, he did not want the civil service group to become more corrupt and degenerate as the court emphasized and nurtured commerce, and the contradiction between the emperor and the common people to become more intense. He also did not want the civil service group to be split or even evolve into factional struggles due to the impact of various current thoughts.

Comprehensive education and political party development (Zhongjun Society) will definitely make civil servants aware of the rise of common people's power. Of course, this is also related to the increase in the number of handicraftsmen and workers after the development of Ming Dynasty's industry, which makes it easier for common people's power to rise in urban areas, especially in places like the capital and Nando. Therefore, these civil servants will also reflect on themselves, realize the crisis, and have doubts about the world, such as Wang Hua in this chapter. But in any case, this is a good phenomenon. The literati and scholars of Ming Dynasty began to actively reflect and doubt Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism as an opportunity for the transformation of Chinese civilization. In the original history, this phenomenon actually occurred in the Ming Dynasty's scholar-official class at this time, such as the study of qi and the study of mind. Maybe this era is more obvious after the appearance of Zhu Houzhao, the time traveler.

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(End of this chapter)