Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 269: The Romantic Affair of an Old Neo-Confucian Official
"what!"

"what!"

"what!"

The iron-wrapped water and fire stick hit Master Mei directly on the back, causing him to scream in pain.

Mr. Mei had never expected that he would be beaten to death by his brother-in-law in the blink of an eye. He knew at once that the man behind the screen was no ordinary man, so he could only cry and shout, "Sir, I know I was wrong! Please ask my brother-in-law to spare my life! I kowtow to you and plead guilty! Woo woo! I don't want to die!"

"Beat him to death, just beat him to death!"

Jiao Fang started shouting loudly. He hated his brother who doted on his concubine so much that he could not bear the trouble.

Jiao Fang knew that his Jiao family's current status was all given by the Emperor before him, and therefore he was worried that Zhu Houzhao would vent his anger on his family and make their wealth disappear overnight. Therefore, he was even more excited than Zhu Houzhao.

At this time, there was no more crying and shouting from Master Mei outside.

Then, Jiao Fang's son Jiao Yang came in and bowed to Zhu Houzhao, Jiao Fang and others: "Sir, uncle of the king, father, Uncle Nine has been beaten to death!"

Jiao Fang only looked at Zhu Houzhao: "Sir, the rebellious person has been eliminated. What do you think we should do next?"

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but look up at Jiao Fang, only to see that Jiao Fang's forehead was already sweating and his hands were shaking as if he had Parkinson's disease. For a moment he couldn't help but smile slightly, thinking that he didn't seem to say that he was very angry, but Jiao Fang was so scared. It can be seen that as an emperor, he still has some deterrent power. Of course, maybe this person is just like this. The richer he is, the more timid he is and the more afraid he is of losing the opportunity to continue to be rich because of offending the powerful.

Just like in Dream of the Red Chamber, as soon as the palace summoned the officials of the Jia family, the entire Jia family was frightened and terrified, and no one in the family could live in peace.

Now, Jiao Fang must have the same feeling, fearing that the emperor would vent his anger on his Jiao family, which is why he is so timid and worried.

But in fact, Zhu Houzhao came here today not to kill anyone, nor did he want to let everyone in Haitian Shengyuan know that he was a person who even the prime minister of the cabinet, Jiao Fang, was afraid of. Sooner or later, people would know that he was the emperor.

After all, Zhu Houzhao could guess that even the former cabinet ministers would come here, and who knows, there might be some dukes and ministers who would come here to relax.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao only said to Jiao Fang who was still trembling beside him: "Forget it, you have already executed him on the spot, what else can I say, but do you know that you are taking human life lightly? He is your brother-in-law. Even if he is not your brother-in-law, if he commits a crime, you should hand him over to the Guangdong Provincial Surveillance Commissioner. Whether he is sentenced to death or imprisonment should be decided by the court. Tell me, you have also been the Prime Minister, why do you still have the problem of a clan family, and use private punishment, and use private punishment in front of me, where do you put the court and the law?"

Jiao Fang was stunned. For a moment, he only thought of beating his favorite concubine brother to death to appease the emperor Zhu Houzhao. He did not think that he had made a huge mistake. He prostrated himself on the ground and said, "Old minister, old minister, I am guilty. I was stupid for a moment. I was angry because my father was insulted. I forgot the rules for a moment. Please punish me, Your Majesty!"

"It's rare that you are so loyal. Please sit down first. The Censorate and the Ministry of Justice will handle this matter. I am too lazy to interfere," Zhu Houzhao said. Jiao Fang then sat down tremblingly. Here, Zhang Heling also asked the servants to make a cup of tea for Jiao Fang.

Jiao Fang didn't dare to drink or speak, and she still felt a little uneasy.

Zhu Houzhao didn't say anything either. The entire private room was very quiet. Only the various moans coming from outside made people imagine a lot.

"That seems to be Minister Huang. Li Zhang, the Earl of Xiangcheng, is also here, as well as Shaoqing Chang. Uncle, there are many dignitaries in your Shengyuan," Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but say.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me for making a fool of myself. Ordinary people can neither play nor enter," Zhang Heling replied truthfully.

"Hmph, a few days ago, the retired old minister Han Wen submitted a memorial to me, saying that the nobles and officials are now ten times more arrogant and extravagant than in the past, spending money like water and pursuing pleasure, not studying or pursuing achievements, but only looking for flowers and willows, cockfighting and horse riding. Therefore, I suggested that the rules and regulations be rectified and that the nobles and officials be strictly prohibited from visiting prostitutes and seeking pleasure. Now it seems that what our old minister Han Wen, who is a Neo-Confucian scholar, said is true!"

Zhu Houzhao is indeed worried about this now. With the opening of the sea, foreign trade activities have become more and more frequent. As a self-sufficient superpower with highly developed handicrafts and agriculture, the Ming Dynasty will naturally be in a trade surplus position, which will also lead to the Ming Dynasty's aristocracy becoming increasingly wealthy. However, once these Ming Dynasty aristocrats become increasingly wealthy, they will only pursue enjoyment more and more, and reduce their enthusiasm for production and investment in industry.

In particular, in the future, financial activities such as issuing government bonds and even stocks will make it easier for the wealthy and powerful with capital in the Ming Dynasty to obtain more wealth, which will make them pursue pleasure more, and therefore, will lead to a decline in the motivation of the Ming Dynasty to develop production.

This is human nature. Once people have a lot of wealth, especially if they can easily obtain a lot of wealth, it is difficult for them to motivate themselves to improve themselves.

Even the emperor Zhu Houzhao was like this. He often thought that it would be better to be a licentious king while the Ming Dynasty's social economy was highly developed. After all, human life span was only a few decades or a hundred years. Since he already had wealth and honor, why bother to work so hard for this country and other people in this country? After all, when his life ended in the future, everything would become nothingness.

But Zhu Houzhao knew that if he indulged himself and the nobles of his empire in this way, the entire empire would decline, and he would fail his responsibility as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao did not want these bureaucrats and capitalists of his Ming Empire, i.e. aristocrats, to sink into depravity because of their countless wealth. Because of this, he suddenly realized that Neo-Confucianism was actually quite necessary. After all, it was beneficial to the Ming Dynasty to require these powerful people to cultivate their moral character and cultivate their character. It was no wonder that ministers such as Xia Yan and Zhang Cong had the political concept of Neo-Confucianism as the body and Saint Learning as the use.

But what Zhu Houzhao didn't know was that although Neo-Confucianism requires people to restrain themselves and return to propriety, human desires are not so easy to control.

After Zhu Houzhao suddenly mentioned the memorial of Han Wen, an old minister of Neo-Confucianism, he saw a familiar figure, who was none other than Han Wen, a famous minister of Neo-Confucianism and former Minister of Revenue.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but look at Zhang Heling: "What's going on? Why is old Minister Han here too?"

Seeing that Emperor Zhu Houzhao's face was terribly dark, Zhang Heling couldn't say that Minister Han was a frequent visitor here, so he could only smile and say, "There are some courtesans here who are quite knowledgeable in literature and art. They were all taught by the experienced madams I invited from Yangzhou. Among them, there is one named Yu Ai, who is a close friend of Minister Han. They must just dislike the hot weather in Guangdong, so they just undressed and talked! Minister Han is a man of upright character, so he naturally does not feel ashamed of romantic matters."

"Alright! I'm not a three-year-old child! Stop lying to me. If we want to talk about undressing, why are we so close to each other? Go and call Minister Han over!"

Zhu Houzhao was thinking about whether to reinstate Han Wen to correct the extravagant trend in the world, but he didn't expect that even the so-called Neo-Confucian gentlemen were hypocritical and could not control their third leg, and also started to do such wasteful things in this southern country.

At that moment, Han Wen came to Zhu Houzhao with a shaky step, and bowed to him with a stammer: "Your Majesty, I didn't know that Your Majesty would come in person. I am sorry for not welcoming you from afar. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me!"

"Okay, old minister, what are you doing in the attic opposite?" Zhu Houzhao asked after he finished speaking.

"Your Majesty, Brother Yu and I were discussing academic matters, and just now we were talking about poetry and songs as well as classics, history, and miscellaneous works," replied the old Minister Han.

"So what about the talent of this Brother Yu you mentioned?" Zhu Houzhao asked.

"Your Majesty, to be honest, this sister Yu is extremely talented and well-read. She has her own unique insights in the study of Song history!" replied the old Minister Han.

"Go and call over the girl Yu that the old Minister Han mentioned. I want to see how talented she is!" Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but laugh out of anger.

for a while.

Then a woman with loose hair, half-open clothes, and only one side of her bodice hanging on her shoulders, revealing a trace of snow-white skin on the other side. She was weaker than Xi Shi and more charming than Diao Chan. She was brought in. As soon as she came in, she bowed to Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao only glanced at Jiao Fang when he saw this. Jiao Fang understood what Zhu Houzhao meant and asked on his behalf: "I heard from Minister Han that you are very knowledgeable and have studied Song history very well. Let me ask you, what is your opinion on the factional struggles after Xining?"

The woman, Yu Ai, only glanced at Jiao Fang with her peach blossom eyes, and then glanced at the old Shangshu Han: "I don't know, and I don't know what kind of Shangshu Master Han is. I just don't know why the masters called me here?"

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand, signaling Jiao Fang to let the woman leave.

Jiao Fang understood and asked someone to take the woman away.

Soon, Zhu Houzhao smiled and said to Han Lao Shangshu: "Han Lao Shangshu, you are really good at making up stories. People say that young people admire beauty, but I didn't expect that the old age is also like this. Of course, according to reason, this is nothing, but why do you have to lie to me? However, I would like to ask, you previously submitted a memorial to the court to correct the atmosphere, but why did you spoil the atmosphere first?"

"My old minister, my old minister is guilty!"

Han Lao Shangshu suddenly said, "But this old minister and Yu'ai are in love, Your Majesty! This old minister is willing to divorce my wife for Yu'ai and marry her. Please make the decision, Your Majesty!"

"Humph!"

Zhu Houzhao snorted and left the place directly, saying: "There are really few of these officials who are truly clean. It is really annoying! Declare that Han Lao Shangshu has a bad personal morality and is not worthy of being a model for the world. He will be demoted to a commoner and sent to the Imperial Maritime Trade Company for service. Maybe he can play a role in teaching Chinese to the Indian natives in the future!"

Because I recently looked up the history of the rise and fall of Portugal and Spain during the Age of Exploration, I found that the reason why Spain became rapidly powerful after initially discovering America and then quickly declined and was overtaken by Britain and France was because the early domestic capitalist aristocrats in Spain quickly became corrupt after easily obtaining a large amount of wealth, especially silver from North America and getting rich through government bonds. They did not use the originally accumulated capital to develop industry for the industrial revolution but instead used it for enjoyment, which led to their decline. The author thought that the Ming Dynasty might also have had such a problem in the early days of colonization. In history, after the Longqing opening of the port, the bureaucrats and gentry during the Wanli prosperous period were indeed extremely extravagant, which led to worsening corruption and ultimately their demise.

So in the novel, this will undoubtedly happen after the Ming Dynasty begins to colonize and acquires a large amount of wealth.

Therefore, the author wrote these plots in detail in order to tell book lovers that the protagonist discovered many details and some possible hidden dangers during his southern tour. At the same time, the protagonist showed the true face of the literati in the early days of Ming Dynasty colonization through his perspective. I don’t know if it is redundant for the author to write like this. However, next, the protagonist will correct this trend and let the capital accumulated by the Ming Dynasty be used to start the industrial revolution instead of letting the powerful capitalists squander it for enjoyment.

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(End of this chapter)