Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 365: The Collapse of Hierarchical Society

Hangzhou West Lake.

The red leaves printed ink-colored foliage on the green water.

A breeze blew by without causing any waves, and the surface of the lake was as plain and pure as the blue printed cloth of the south of the Yangtze River, yet exuding tranquility.

Zhu Houzhao was sitting in a pleasure boat, where the melodious Wu dialect and the melodious Kunqu opera were playing. He didn't know whether he was drunk or fascinated after just drinking two cups of rice wine.

But the peaceful weather without the sound of weapons and the smell of blood finally made him fall into a deep sleep.

After all, the fact that Jiangnan was still prosperous and peaceful, and had not been affected by the Japanese invasion and was not in ruins, made Zhu Houzhao feel completely at ease and sleep peacefully on the West Lake.

Zhu Houzhao did not prohibit common people from coming to visit West Lake when he visited.

Under his influence and because the West Lake is as charming as Xi Shi, the entire West Lake was filled with tourists. Under the dark blue water, it was unclear where the crowds were and where the water was.

But fortunately, it is now the Ming Dynasty, the Han Dynasty's empire, and it is a time of peace and prosperity. The control of rituals and music is not too strict, and the atmosphere is open.

Therefore, although these scholars and civilians were very densely packed, the unique Han clothing of tall hats, wide belts, colorful sleeves and white gauze made these Han scholars and civilians cluster everywhere like flowers.

The soft Wu dialect that wafts along with the fragrance of flowers sounds very familiar to the ears. At least there is no Hu sound or any Japanese accent.

However, Zhu Houzhao discovered that in addition to the soft Wu dialect, the sound rippling among these clear waves also included the sound of Ming Mandarin, which was the Mandarin of this era. The popularization of universal education and the popularization of standard pinyin pronunciation enabled people from different regions and dialects to communicate using one language, rather than relying solely on text and translation by acquaintances.

"Listening to the seemingly official language but still with the accents of various local dialects, it can be seen that after the abolition of the road permit system for decades, more and more people from the Ming Dynasty have come to various scenic spots for tourism. Even the West Lake has attracted countless people from all over the country."

Zhu Houzhao said with a smile, and Zhu Wan, who was accompanying him to report on the suppression of Japanese pirates everywhere, replied with a smile:

"As Your Majesty said, with the abolition of the pass system, the people of the world are like captive birds in the forest, freer and more prosperous. It has also promoted the current tourism boom. Famous places such as Suzhou and Hangzhou have benefited greatly from it. Some scholars and officials even opened their private gardens for the people to visit and charged them fees. Some of them made more than 10,000 silver dollars a day."

"Speaking of which, this is also related to the fact that Your Majesty created the first prosperous era of our Ming Dynasty. Only when the people are rich can they travel. Moreover, in the Ming Dynasty today, even between villages, there are cement roads, and steam locomotives are available all over the world, so that hermits in the world have nowhere to hide, and the people of the world have everywhere to travel!"

Li Tianchong also echoed.

Zhu Houzhao just smiled slightly after hearing this, but he also admitted that the series of reforms he carried out during his administration did promote the development of tourism in the Ming Dynasty.

After all, before this, traveling around the world was just an entertainment activity exclusive to scholars and officials, and ordinary people had neither the opportunity nor the interest to travel.

But it is different now. The great enrichment of material life and the increasing freedom granted by the court, coupled with the increasing demand for culture and tourism with the popularization of universal education, have made the tourism industry in Ming Dynasty more and more prosperous.

Some officials have even begun to suggest that the court set up a tourism bureau to manage tourism affairs throughout the world.

For Zhu Houzhao, the development of tourism is undoubtedly beneficial to the interests of the entire Ming Dynasty. It can also enrich people's lives and boost the local economy.

Otherwise, Zhu Houzhao would not have traveled around the country in his seventies, leaving his calligraphy everywhere, and even paying a large sum of money to ask some literati and scholars to leave their names here, in order to promote the development of Ming Dynasty's tourism industry.

But not everyone can understand Zhu Houzhao's thoughts, or is willing to see Zhu Houzhao do this.

Traveling around the world is a privilege of the ruling class and a benefit for meat-eaters, just like wearing gold and silver and wearing red and colorful ribbons.

But now, these have begun to become popular.

This is undoubtedly unacceptable to some scholars and officials.

After all, this means that the hierarchical society is gradually moving towards equality, and the privileges of the upper class are being enjoyed by the masses.

"The peddlers, women, children and common people all dare to comment on Li Bai, Du Fu, Su Shi and Xin Qiji, and even dare to leave their names and express their feelings at this famous place. This is truly the collapse of etiquette and music, and they have no sense of shame!"

Wang E, the retired Minister of Rites of Nanjing, strongly condemned this phenomenon and found it difficult to accept.

Now, what was even more difficult for him to accept was that because there were so many people coming to see the emperor, even he, a wealthy country gentleman living in West Lake, had to queue up to seek an audience.

Although Wang E found it difficult to accept the phenomenon that the treatment of the scholar-official class was gradually becoming more popular, this was indeed an irreversible phenomenon.

What Zhu Houzhao brought to the Ming Dynasty was not only modern weapons and industrial systems, but also a modern civilization that was gradually moving towards equality and a trend of gradual disintegration of the hierarchical society.

Listening to the various official languages ​​brought by the warm wind, Zhu Houzhao discovered that almost every citizen of the Ming Dynasty at that time could recite a few lines of Tang and Song poems, and some of them were original works.

This made him very pleased, pleased that the level of cultural popularization in the Ming Dynasty had really reached a very high level.

Zhu Houzhao had always wondered what it would be like if everyone in the world became a scholar.

Now, as the emperor, he has been able to get a glimpse of the results of this social reform. At least he can see that the people have the ability to think proactively.

The so-called highly respected and knowledgeable people are often more easily exposed as frauds, and even some great scholars are challenged by folk thinkers.

The Japanese pirates did not cause any trouble to the southeast of the Ming Dynasty, which was undoubtedly a major setback for some coastal nobles with ulterior motives.

But the coastal nobles soon discovered that the Japanese pirates did not cause much trouble to the people in the southeastern coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty. It was not because the Japanese pirates were not bad enough, but because the Ming Dynasty’s official army deployed in the southeast was too powerful, and this was all related to Zhu Wan, Qi Jiguang and others.

Some rumors about Zhu Wan's indiscriminate killing and Qi Jiguang's looting came out of nowhere.

In addition, some literati who were bribed by the aristocratic families also began to speak out and criticize the court for placing too many troops in the southeast, which disturbed the people and caused unrest in the south of the Yangtze River.

But contrary to expectations, these rumors and various remarks that despised the military did not have much impact, and were even refuted by many people.

"Everyone can see that the Japanese pirates today are far superior to those decades ago in terms of both combat power and numbers. They kill anyone they see and burn any village they see, but they only target common people and officials. It is obvious that these Japanese pirates are intentionally creating panic and colluding with local forces to disrupt the government. Therefore, the rumors that slander the government and the army today are either the foolish opinions of scholars or they are deliberate!"

A young student wearing a Ming Dynasty style student uniform was walking and talking to several of his classmates.

Zhu Houzhao, who was on a secret visit, couldn't help but hear this and laughed for a moment. He thought that the people of the Ming Dynasty today are indeed no longer comparable to the people of decades ago. The improvement in their education level has enabled them to have their own judgment on public opinion.

Of course, although the people are no longer ignorant, they are still the people and still cannot influence the government.

The Ming Dynasty was still a court ruled by civil officials.

Although military officials are no longer controlled by civil officials, because it is a peaceful and prosperous era with no major wars in the country, most military officials are not interested in or cannot interfere in domestic affairs. Therefore, it seems that in the current Ming Dynasty, it is still these civil officials who repeatedly play important roles in the political arena.

As long as civil officials are in power, there will inevitably be verbal battles and intrigues;
On the surface, the most noteworthy thing in the internal affairs of the Ming Dynasty today is that the Chief Minister of the Cabinet, Xia Yan, refused to implement the Emperor Zhu Zaile's request that the vassal states in various places deport their subjects who were subject to additional taxes to be brought to Beijing, which made people wonder how Xia Yan dared to be so bold!
Zhu Houzhao was also paying attention to the follow-up of this matter. He was not worried whether Xia Yan would be eliminated by his emperor son, because he believed that Xia Yan must be prepared to bear the consequences of doing so. He did not think that Xia Yan was challenging the imperial power, because his emperor son could dismiss Xia Yan and reappoint a prime minister who was willing to co-sign.

What Zhu Houzhao was worried about was that Xia Yan's prestige and relationship with himself would make him, the emperor's son, dare not break with Xia Yan directly, but he would resent Xia Yan and be used by some villains.

Just as Zhu Houzhao had expected, Xia Yan was not dismissed by Zhu Zailei. As the newly enthroned emperor, Zhu Zailei did not dare to dismiss an old prime minister with great prestige at will, especially when he, the emperor emeritus, was still alive. Therefore, on the surface, Zhu Zailei still gave in and put the resolution on hold for the time being.

However, not long after Zhu Houzhao had been visiting the West Lake, he saw an official coming to Zhu Wan with an imperial decree, which was to change Zhu Wan's position as commander of Fujian and Zhejiang military affairs to inspecting Fujian and Zhejiang, which meant that he no longer had the power to mobilize troops along the southeast coast.

"News came from the capital that Lin Ye, the Right Secretary of the Military Department, suggested that the court change his position as the commander of Fujian and Zhejiang military affairs to an inspection tour on the grounds that I had arbitrarily mobilized the army to disturb the local area. I never thought that Your Majesty would agree." Zhu Wan couldn't help but sigh after telling Zhu Houzhao, and then couldn't help but say angrily:
"Most of these officials from Fujian and Zhejiang see me as a student of the Yuanfu. Now that they see that the Yuanfu is not favored by Your Majesty, they take this opportunity to slander me!"

Zhu Houzhao looked at Zhu Wan who was showing excitement and just stood up and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "You don't have to be so angry. It seems that the change from superintendent of military affairs to inspecting Fujian and Zhejiang seems to have cancelled your right to mobilize troops, but my guards can still be mobilized."

Zhu Houzhao then instructed Li Tianchong, "Pass on my imperial decree. Order Wang Chonggu, the ninth corps commander of the Imperial Guards, to rush from Huguang to Fujian to temporarily establish the Imperial Guards Anti-Japanese General Headquarters. Appoint Zhu Wan, who is inspecting Fujian and Zhejiang, as the commander-in-chief!"

The Imperial Guards were an army directly controlled by Zhu Houzhao. The army's money, food and weapons supplies were all his own property, and the officers were all members of his Loyalty to the Emperor Society. They were not the court's army, and therefore, Zhu Houzhao himself directly mobilized them.

Now, some officials in Fujian and Zhejiang intend to restrict Zhu Wan's power to mobilize troops, thereby increasing the chances of Japanese pirates causing chaos in the southeast. They even successfully took advantage of the conflict between the emperor and the prime minister of the cabinet to deprive Zhu Wan of his power to mobilize troops.

But Zhu Houzhao refused to let these officials get their wish and directly transferred the 9th Army of the Imperial Guard to the southeast. Although these Imperial Guards were not naval and not good at naval battles, they were more than capable of shooting these Japanese pirates on land.

Zhu Wan had no choice but to obey the order. He was now inspecting Fujian and Zhejiang according to the order of Emperor Zhu Zaile, and at the same time, according to the order of Emperor Zhu Houzhao, he was participating in the deployment of the officers and soldiers of the Imperial Guards who remained in the southeast to suppress the Japanese pirates.

Because of this, the Japanese pirates still did not gain the upper hand. Tens of thousands of guards were divided into small teams and scattered all over the southeast. Basically, four or five guards were able to wipe out the Japanese pirates, who outnumbered them ten times.

The brave and warlike Japanese pirates could only passively take bullets in front of the guards officers and soldiers equipped with modern firearms. And because of this, in the end, even the local people were no longer afraid of these Japanese pirates, and began to resist them spontaneously, or directly tip off the guards who were carrying out separate special operations, making it basically impossible for the Japanese pirates to survive once they set foot in the coastal territory of the Ming Dynasty.

"The south is still so peaceful! What are these pirates doing?"

After reading the news that a famous opera troupe would be touring Ningbo, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, Fuzhou, Quanzhou and other places, the Minister of Works Zhao Wenhua knew that the large-scale Japanese invasion had not yet occurred, otherwise these folk drama stars would not dare to go on tour to the southeast coast at this time, which made him very depressed.

"According to the news brought by my family, after Zhu Wan lost the power to mobilize troops, the number of government troops appearing along the entire southeast coast has increased instead of decreased. Finally, we found out that it was the Ninth Army of the Huguang Imperial Guard that went to Fujian. So, this must be related to the retired emperor!"

Lin Ye couldn't help but speak from the side.

"It seems that Zhu Wan has voted for the emperor, alas!"

Zhao Wenhua slammed the table helplessly. Like other civil servants who secretly wanted to benefit the southern gentry, he still had to admit in his heart that Zhu Houzhao was still their biggest enemy. But even though Zhu Houzhao had now become the emperor emeritus, they could not do anything to Zhu Houzhao, because even the emperor did not dare to do anything to the prime minister of the cabinet appointed by the emperor emeritus, let alone people like them.

"The Emperor Retired, another Emperor Retired! In my opinion, if the Emperor Retired doesn't die, the gentry of the world will have no peace! Why not find a chance to kill him? He is an old man in his seventies, and even if he dies, not many people will doubt him. Besides, it is not difficult to kill him!"

Qiu Luan, who was very close to Zhao Wenhua, couldn't help but speak.

"Be careful with your words! How can you just kill the emperor emeritus? You know how many nobles and officials are supporting him. At the beginning, the gentry in Jiangnan went on strike to protest against the tax increase, but the richest chaebols in the world helped him! Don't think that now that the Western Factory is in the hands of the emperor, nothing will happen if you say that. Although the one who went to the south became the emperor emeritus, he is not blind or deaf!"

The so-called think tank Luo Longwen couldn't help but say.

Yan Shifan, who had been silent the whole time, couldn't help but laugh grimly upon hearing this, and walked out from the darkest corner: "We can't kill him or chase him away, but can't we just ask the emperor to leave? Our emperor must be tired of the scenery in the south of the Yangtze River, can't he go and see the grasslands and the smoke rising from the desert?"

……

Zhu Houzhao sneezed. The increasingly cold weather forced him to admit that the coldness in the south was not something that could be easily endured. Moreover, the Little Ice Age climate phenomenon was becoming more and more intense. The only thing he was thankful for was that he did not go outside the Great Wall. He now only wanted to go somewhere further south.

But before setting off, he still had to wait for the Ming military general staff to decide on the strategic policy for sending troops to Japan.

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(End of this chapter)