Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 278 Kneel down and apologize (6200 words long chapter)
"I, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Wang Hong, report to Your Majesty that Han Wen has established a community school in Goa, giving priority to educating the natives. The reason is that the natives should be educated first to avoid them causing chaos. The people who settled in Goa by the Ming Dynasty are domestic slaves and are obedient citizens of the Celestial Empire. There is no need to rush to teach them!

But the people of my Ming Dynasty who settled in Goa have quite a few complaints about this, saying that the children of the natives can have priority in reading and learning to read, so why can't the people of the Celestial Empire have priority in reading and learning to read! I am worried that public outrage may arise from this, so I petition Your Majesty for instructions! "

Zhu Houzhao slammed the table in anger after reading Wang Hong's memorial: "This Han Wen! I thought these upright ministers of Neo-Confucianism would stand up straight in front of me, the king, and be upright and fearless of death. When they go out, they can speak for the people of the Ming Dynasty. But they turned out to be the backers who helped the natives oppress the people of the Ming Dynasty!

I and the officials of the Ming Dynasty have worked hard to reduce rents and burdens, to benefit the people, and to send soldiers on a long expedition, not to liberate the natives and let the foreigners become the masters of the people of the Ming Dynasty! They are superior to the people of the Ming Dynasty! "

"If it is not for the purpose of making the people of Ming Dynasty rich and strong, and realizing the Great Harmony as soon as possible, but just to ensure my power as the master of the people of Ming Dynasty, why should I work so hard? I should just close the country to the outside world, use the imperial examination to lock the hearts of the scholars, rely on the scholars to fool the hearts of the people, and then become a king who does nothing and only cares about my own enjoyment. Wouldn't it be better!"

Zhu Houzhao was really angry. He really didn't expect that some rulers of this era would have no national consciousness to this extent! Or it could be said that they were so pedantic that they only cared about educating the natives and forgot whose interests they should take care of first.

Xia Yan did not expect Emperor Zhu Houzhao to be so angry, and hurriedly advised: "Your Majesty, please calm down. Han Wen may just think that the natives need more education and need to learn to read and write. He is the only Confucian scholar in Goa, so he can only open a community school. He did not expect that the people of the Ming Dynasty and the natives of Goa need more students than the maximum number of students in the community school, so he gave priority to the natives. Perhaps he did not mean to look down on the people of the Ming Dynasty! Your Majesty, you should also know that a righteous minister of Neo-Confucianism like Han Wen should be selfless!"

"But at least, he did not consider the feelings of the people of the Ming Dynasty when establishing such a rule! Officials have the power to control public resources, but when controlling them, they should not worry about the lack of resources but the imbalance of resources. If he continues to do this, it will only cause the locals to be superior to the people of the Ming Dynasty, and will make the locals self-righteous. As a result, the people of the Ming Dynasty will no longer be grateful to the Ming Dynasty!"

After Zhu Houzhao said this, Xia Yan nodded and expressed his agreement: "Your Majesty is wise! However, Han Wen and others actually just really regard the natives as the people of the Ming Dynasty, and they want to make the natives equal to the people of the Ming Dynasty."

"If the natives have enough strength to fight against the Ming Dynasty, I can give them equal rights, but I will not give them equal rights. They can't even think about it! Even the people of the Ming Dynasty have no ability and consciousness to pursue equality, so what qualifications do the natives have! Equal rights are won by one's own ability, and cannot be given by others. That will only make these natives think that we are afraid of them!"

Zhu Houzhao said, "I don't want to see the natives riding on the heads of the people of the Ming Dynasty because of the one-sided care of these Neo-Confucian officials. In order to prevent the people of the Ming Dynasty from being disappointed in the Ming Dynasty court, I would rather not educate these natives, but use the butcher's knife to destroy their bodies! Send Jinyiwei Guo Rong here! I will give Han Wen one last chance. If he doesn't correct his position, I will order all the Neo-Confucian officials who were exiled overseas to serve in Mobei, and all the natives will be slaughtered!"

Xia Yan could not help but be greatly shocked after hearing this. He knew that his majesty made this decision because he was extremely disappointed with the ministers of Neo-Confucianism. He supported Neo-Confucianism as the body and the use of sacred learning. Therefore, in his heart, he actually supported spreading Neo-Confucianism to educate the natives. But now, because the ministers of Neo-Confucianism are only concerned with educating the natives and ignore the interests of the local scholars and people of the Ming Dynasty, this is contrary to his majesty's will. Although his majesty loves the people like his own children, he is extremely disgusted with others ignoring the rights and interests of their own people without distinguishing between Chinese and barbarians.

Therefore, Xia Yan hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, as the Minister of Nanyang, I have an unshirkable responsibility to deal with this matter. Therefore, I ask Your Majesty to let me go to Goa in person to deal with this matter. There is no need to mobilize the Jinyiwei for the time being. I will definitely give Your Majesty a satisfactory answer!"

"Then let the Jinyiwei go with you. If you can't handle it well, I will let the Jinyiwei take Han Wen back directly!"

Zhu Houzhao said that he did not have any deep hatred towards the natives, nor did he fail to understand the ideas of these Neo-Confucian officials. He himself was not an extremist who wanted to exterminate all the natives. He also wanted to see equality for all, but he could not accept achieving the false image of equality for all at the expense of the interests of the Ming people and letting them suffer injustice and grievances!

……

The Ming people living in Goa were already dissatisfied with the Indians who had once worked together with the Portuguese to bully them. They waited until the Ming fleet captured Goa with great difficulty. After getting the support of Governor Wang Hong, they held a "Three Days in Goa" against the Portuguese and Indians, which made the Ming people in Goa hold their heads high and the Indians developed awe of the Ming people.

But unfortunately, Han Wen’s community school made a rule that gave priority to Indians in education, which naturally caused dissatisfaction among the people of the Ming Dynasty.

As a result, conflicts arose between the people of the Ming Dynasty and the natives of India.

However, Han Wen criticized Governor Wang Hong for his failure to govern the people, and in order to protect the safety of the Indian natives in the community school, he also established a rule that "Han people are not allowed to enter."

When Xia Yan came here and saw this rule, his face darkened: "Come here, gather all the people of our Ming Dynasty, and call Han Wen! By the way, take down this sign that says Han people are not allowed to enter!"

Half an hour later.

All the people of the Ming Dynasty gathered in the open space in front of the Goa Community School.

At this time, Han Wen also rushed over. When he saw Xia Yan, he just bowed and said, "I wonder what advice Mr. Xia has for you!"

Xia Yan pointed at all the Ming people across from him and asked, "Mr. Han, I want to ask you, are you a disciple of Confucius and Mencius?"

"Of course! What do you mean, Xia Bu Tang?" Han Wen stroked his beard and asked Xia Yan directly and coldly. He had been the Minister of Revenue before being demoted to a commoner by Zhu Houzhao. He had more seniority than Xia Yan and naturally had the confidence to not be afraid of Xia Yan.

"In this case, the king is the least important, the people are the most important, and the country is second! Do you agree with this statement?" Xia Yan asked.

"Of course I agree, this is the words of a saint!" Han Wen replied.

"If that's the case, you have to perform a great ceremony to apologize for insulting the dignity of the emperor and father, then what crime should you be punished for humiliating the people of the Ming Dynasty and treating them as inferiors! Kneel down before me! Kneel down before me for your contempt for the people of the Ming Dynasty!"

Xia Yan shouted loudly as he spoke.

“What! Xia Butang, you want me to kneel down before these lowly people?! You, you are really going too far!”

Han Wen was furious, his beard was shaking with anger, and he pointed at Xia Yan and yelled.

"You run a community school, but you give priority to the natives, and now you don't even allow the Han people to enter. It can be seen that you are not a minister of the Ming Dynasty, nor a Han person; you are a traitor to the Han Dynasty and a traitor to the country! You have not taken into account the interests of the people of the Ming Dynasty, and even humiliated them. You want to put the people of the Ming Dynasty below the natives! If you don't kneel down and apologize, do you want the people of the Ming Dynasty to admit that what you did is right?!"

Xia Yan asked.

"I didn't! I didn't mean to belittle the people of the Ming Dynasty!" Han Wen didn't expect Xia Yan to look at him like that, and he quickly responded loudly.

"Didn't you just say that the people of the Ming Dynasty are untouchables!" Xia Yan shouted loudly.

"Old man, old man just spoke carelessly, old man, old man," Han Wen wanted to make an excuse, but found that he could not explain himself. He did not expect that he would suddenly and naturally call the people of the Ming Dynasty untouchables, and he could not help blushing.

"Mr. Han, do you know that you have already been demoted to a commoner by His Majesty? If they are pariahs, then you are also a pariah like them. But although they are pariahs, at least they do not fawn on these natives, while you are a pariah, but you still fawn on these natives. So if the people of my Ming Dynasty are pariahs in your eyes, then you are even more pariah than them!"

Xia Yan said.

"You are talking nonsense! You are humiliating me! Although I am a commoner, I am also a scholar!" Han Wen's lips turned purple with anger. He didn't expect that he would be called a pariah who was even lower than the pariah.

"Forget it. I don't want to say any more to you. You are just like the people in front of me. You are all the people of the Ming Dynasty. There is no distinction between high and low. In fact, you bring more value to the Ming Dynasty. They pay taxes and produce, while you can only teach people a few words. If the Ming Dynasty loses them, it will lose the hearts of the people. If it loses you, it can always find another scholar!"

"So, I am here today only to convey His Majesty's instructions. If you, Han Wen, don't kneel down and kowtow to apologize to the people of the Ming Dynasty whom you have humiliated before, then His Majesty will change his strategy and send you, the offending Neo-Confucian officials, to serve in Mobei! Moreover, His Majesty will give up Neo-Confucianism to educate the natives and instead use the butcher's knife to eliminate these natives!"

As Xia Yan spoke, he waved his hand, and the guards under his command immediately raised their rifles and aimed at the Indians behind Han Wen.

"If I don't kneel today, Your Majesty will abandon Neo-Confucianism? Will you kill me with a butcher's knife instead?"

Han Wen did not expect that his actions would make the Emperor have such thoughts, but no matter what, just to maintain the status of Neo-Confucianism, he had to bend his knees and kneel in front of the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Han Wen never thought that one day he would kneel in front of a group of common people, even though he is also a commoner now.

But now, Han Wen also knew that he had no choice but to do this. He began to apologize, "Fellow villagers, I was wrong. I shouldn't have ignored your dignity. I shouldn't have only cared about the natives and ignored you. Please forgive me! I will abolish all previous regulations and allow Han people to enroll."

"Wrong! You are now receiving salary from the Governor's Office of the Ming Dynasty in Goa City. You have the obligation to educate the children of the Han people, not whether you allow it or not. In addition, the people of the Ming Dynasty should have priority in school admission, and there should be better classrooms and dormitories. These natives are untouchables and are not worthy of being on the same level as the people of the Ming Dynasty. Do you understand? Also, the thoughts of Mencius and Xunzi do not need to be taught to the natives. The natives are not the people of the Ming Dynasty and are not worthy of learning!"

Xia Yan said.

At this time, the people of the Ming Dynasty were still in shock. They did not expect that Mr. Han, who had been a minister, would kneel down and apologize to them. Their grievances were comforted at once, and they began to feel proud again for being the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Han Wen just stood up with a lonely look on his face and walked towards the community school dormitory. What Xia Yan forced him to do today touched him deeply, and he didn't know how to describe what happened today.

In fact, now he didn't know whether he should be angry or lucky, especially when he saw the people of Ming Dynasty smiling happily because he knelt down, he suddenly realized that he seemed to be very unpopular and not loved by the people.

The natives of Asan were also confused. They didn't understand why Mr. Han, who taught Chinese characters, would kneel down to ordinary Ming people.

Among them were people of noble Indian castes such as Brahmins and Kshatriyas. In their view, Mr. Han was responsible for teaching and was a noble person above the Kshatriyas. But now he knelt down to apologize to ordinary people of the Ming Dynasty. What did this mean? Did it mean that these people of the Ming Dynasty were more noble than Mr. Han? And Mr. Han was not a person of noble caste in the Ming Dynasty? I don't know what the Indian native's brain circuit was. Because of this idea, an Indian native of the Brahmin caste might have been dissatisfied with Han Wen's teaching of Confucianism, so he suddenly picked up a brick to hit Han Wen, who was over 70 years old, and wanted to kill this saintly Confucianist who was determined to treat them as Ming people and treat them equally or even preferentially.

Snapped!
But at this time, Xia Yan hit the shoulder of the Indian native of the Brahmin caste, causing the brick in the hand of the Indian native who attempted to murder Han Wen to fall to the ground due to the pain in his shoulder.

At this time, Jinyiwei Commander Guo Rong came over, drew out his embroidered spring sword, and cut the Indian native in half in an instant, throwing down a few silver coins: "This is enough to buy a working ox!"

"My fellow villagers, I have received the decree of His Majesty from Xiabu Tang. In Goa, the people of the Ming Dynasty are the masters of this land. This is a right granted to us by His Majesty. His Majesty only allows us to have the right to farm, do business, study, and even serve as officials and manage the army on this land!"

"Moreover, I will formulate the Goa City Ordinance according to Your Majesty's instructions. The purpose of the ordinance is to take care of your interests and better rule the natives here. However, according to my understanding of the natives of Goa, they have different castes. Therefore, we also respect their caste differences. Now I and you are the real nobles here, the first-class nobles. We have the power to spread culture and participate in the management of military and political affairs.

Their Brahmins have the right to spread religion, just like our monks, they are Dili, no longer nobles, but educated people among the untouchables; Kshatriyas are the third class, Vaishyas are the fourth class, and so on. The household slaves assigned to you will be uniformly classified as Kshatriyas by the Governor-General's Office. From now on, you can only use Kshatriyas as slaves. Those below Kshatriya are not worthy of being slaves of the Han people of the Ming Dynasty! The people of the Ming Dynasty come to Goa City and become nobles directly!"

"If the people of our Great Ming kill a Brahmin among the Indians, they only need to pay a cow as compensation. If they kill a Kshatriya, they only need to pay a chicken as compensation. If they kill a Vaishya, it is his honor. If it is a Zhitaras, he should reflect on how he has offended our noble people of the Great Ming!"

Wang Hong, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi who also served as the Governor-General of Goa, said.

The Ming people present seemed to understand what was said and did not know that they had suddenly become nobles. But some of them understood that this meant that they could bully the locals here at will and make money for them.

Although the Asan natives did not understand what Wang Hong said, Guo Rong's casual killing of a Brahmin made them realize that these Oriental people in front of them were above their status.

Han Wen just came back to his senses now, but the first thing he didn't expect was that this Indian native would want to kill him, and what he didn't expect was that His Majesty the Emperor would want to enslave the natives in this way, and that the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Wang Hong, would actually go so far as to acknowledge the existence of this caste system. You must know that even in China there is no distinction between aristocratic families and poor families. If the caste system continues to be recognized here, then these Indian natives will never be able to "be a farmer in the morning and ascend to the emperor's palace in the evening" in their entire lives!

In fact, other officials such as Lu Shen, the deputy envoy of the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, also had such doubts. After seeing Xia Yan off, he could not help but ask: "May I ask the Minister, Your Majesty has always advocated putting the people first, why does he continue to recognize and strengthen such a strict caste hierarchy in Goa, and even let the people of the Ming Dynasty be the superiors in Goa?"

"Because, after all, your majesty is still the emperor of the Han people, not the emperor of the natives!

If treating the natives equally affects the interests of the Han people, Your Majesty would rather treat the natives as slaves, because most of the people of our Ming Dynasty do not want people who are equal to them, but slaves who can work for them. Otherwise, your governor would not classify these Indian natives as untouchables and allow them to be bought and sold. Recognizing their caste system is naturally for the purpose of allowing our Ming Dynasty to better rule here. Once people have the opportunity to enslave others, even if they are made the second-class master, they are willing to do so. In the future, these Brahmins and Kshatriyas will help us suppress the majority of natives who attempt to resist!"

Xia Yan said this and turned around and boarded the warship.

Deputy Censor Lu Shen bowed. He didn't know how to describe what he was doing for the Ming Dynasty, but he knew that on his way to seek welfare for the people of the Ming Dynasty, he was destined to be stained with more blood of the natives. But he also knew that if the people of the Ming Dynasty exchanged with the natives, these natives would treat them, the Ming Dynasty people, in the same way.

In fact.

As Xia Yan expected, the Brahmins and Kshatriyas did not rebel because they were inferior to the people of the Ming Dynasty. After all, they still had people of lower castes to exploit and enslave.

……

"Mr. Lu, I heard that you bought dozens of acres of land to plant mulberry trees and make raw silk. Do you still need workers? We sell laborers here. We have Kunlun slaves, Goan slaves, and white slaves. They are all in their prime!"

In the Ming Dynasty, with the rise of capitalism, the demand for labor increased significantly, which also stimulated the emergence of the human trafficking industry.

"Kunlun slaves are too lazy, Goan slaves are clumsy, and white slaves smell bad. I want to buy them but I don't want to," said Mr. Lu.

"Look at what you said. If you're lazy, just beat it. If you're clumsy, just beat it a few more times and it will be fine. If it stinks, just don't let it leave the farm. I'll give you a discount, okay?"

"Okay, then tell me the price!"

……

Zhu Houzhao also knew that this phenomenon of human trafficking existed, but he did not stop it. In the early days of imperial colonization, the sacrifice of some non-native civilians was inevitable.

Zhu Houzhao knew that it was time for him to go home, and the construction of the cement road from Guangzhou City to Haojing officially started.

……

at this time.

In a market town on the cement road that is the only way from Guangzhou City to Haojing City, a pair of government runners came over, drew a big circle on the wall of a house, and then wrote the word "demolition" in the circle!

Then, when the people here saw that their houses were going to be demolished, they were overjoyed and ran around telling others that their families would be transformed and would become rich and powerful.

"My house is going to be demolished. Now I'm going to be rich. My children can get married!"

"My house is going to be demolished too! Now I can live in a house like the one in Jieyuanfang!"

……

When Zhu Houzhao passed by here with a small entourage, all he heard were the people's stories about the demolition.

Zhu Houzhao had to admit that from ancient times to the present, if you want to make the people who are reluctant to move voluntarily migrate and actively cooperate with the government, coercion is not enough, and sometimes you have to rely on the temptation of interests.

"Isn't that the Emperor? I saw the Emperor at the Royal Fair when I went to Beijing many years ago. Isn't that the Emperor?"

An older civilian from the town said this and walked towards Zhu Houzhao.

and.

"That's the Emperor, that's the Emperor!"

The civilian spoke excitedly as he walked.

At this time, the guards around Zhu Houzhao raised their guns, but Zhu Houzhao stopped them and ordered, "Wait a minute, and see what the people want to do."

Not long after Zhu Houzhao said this, all the people suddenly came towards him, knelt down, and kept shouting "Long live the emperor!" Countless people knelt down in a crowd.

Zhu Houzhao was also quite surprised, and he quickly asked someone to bring a villager to ask questions.

The villager replied, "We don't know how many lifetimes we have accumulated to be blessed. Now we have such a good emperor like you. Not only have you reduced taxes, but you have also exempted us from corvée labor. Even if you want us to relocate, you will compensate us with a lot of money, so that we can live a better life than before. So now that I see you, I want to kowtow to you!"

As the villager said this, he began to kowtow to Zhu Houzhao again.

And there were also people in the crowd outside who couldn't help but kowtow.

Zhu Houzhao was now both moved and helpless. He was moved that the people of the Ming Dynasty were so simple and honest, but he was helpless that the people of the Ming Dynasty basically only attributed their ability to live such a life to the fact that he was a good emperor and did not realize that it was because of their own hard work that they had everything they had today.

After all, Zhu Houzhao used the money he paid to compensate the people for their relocation so that they could live a better life, but in essence he was just spending part of the money that the people earned on themselves.

But Zhu Houzhao could not blame them now, and only said: "Let them all stand up, the people of my Ming Dynasty cannot kneel down casually!"

(End of this chapter)