The Holy Emperor of Ming

Chapter 173: The Temple of Meritorious Officials, Taizu and Taizong Join Forces to Attack
Of course, there are also some officials who want to speak up.

No matter what, Zhou Jian defected from the Ming Dynasty, so how could he be granted a title?

Zhu Houzhao did not give them a chance to speak. He waved his hand to let Zhou Shanmin return to his seat. He stood up habitually and glanced at the ministers.

"Not to mention the military academy, the nobles have been demoted for generations. I know that there must be dissatisfaction among the nobles."

The nobles immediately lowered their heads and maintained their composure.

"But it's useless." Zhu Houzhao raised his voice, "No one can just sit back and wait for death on the laurels.

Even the emperor is no good. If he fails to do his job well, he will be overthrown.

The nobles and generals of our Ming Dynasty cannot be appointed by a bunch of spoiled trash.

The royal family of the Ming Dynasty has been downgraded for generations, because I don't want to, and won't, raise a group of pigs.

The same is true for nobles."

"Look at today's nobles. Can they compare to the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty, such as Xu Da and Chang Shiwan?

You can't even compare to a single hair."

Duke Dingguo and others bowed their heads even more fiercely, feeling helpless.

Chaozong Yuezu.

It's easy to say, but how many people have been able to do it since ancient times?

Comparing them with our ancestors is really overestimating them.

"From now on, no matter you are from the royal family or nobles, you must work hard for me.

If you want to maintain the title of your ancestors, or even surpass the title given by your ancestors, you can only rely on yourselves.

Go and make achievements, and establish yourself with your own abilities.

The world is big enough for you to roam freely."

“Also, from now on, nobility titles will only be conferred on those who have made contributions.

No matter what relative he is, even if he is the queen's father, he cannot be given a title.

Not only military generals, but also civil officials who have made great contributions beyond their duties can be granted titles.

Including doctors, craftsmen, etc., anyone who has made great contributions to the country can be granted a title.

There is no need to worry about not being able to be promoted above the rank of prince or duke. In addition to rewards of gold, silver and treasures, your title will not be reduced for several generations. Just go and make meritorious contributions. The Ming Dynasty has plenty of rewards for you.

Do you understand?" Zhu Houzhao said forcefully without question.

All the ministers responded in unison.

The feelings were quite complicated. The nobles felt better. Even the queen's father would not be given a title in the future. What else could they say?

Civil servants thought more, and they could also be granted titles, no longer simply based on military merit.

The merits of governance are obviously also possible.

Even so, it might be difficult to be conferred a title for one's achievements in governance.

It is difficult to gain the approval of His Majesty and the respect of his ministers for your achievements in governance.

Another thing is that doctors, craftsmen, etc. can all be granted titles, which is difficult for some people to accept.

"Your Majesty, how should these doctors and craftsmen be given titles?" an official could not help but ask.

"Stupid." Zhu Houzhao glared at him casually, "Once these doctors, craftsmen, old farmers and people from all walks of life invent something powerful, how important will it be to our Ming Dynasty?

For example, if this doctor wrote a medical book that could be passed down from generation to generation and could teach thousands or tens of thousands of doctors, how many fewer people would die of illness in our Ming Dynasty?

And this craftsman, if he can invent a simple, low-cost method that can make the road hard, smooth and not easily damaged, do you know how important this will be to our Ming Dynasty?

And this old farmer, if he can increase the grain production in the fields of Daming by several times, do you know how important this is to Daming?
Horseman, if you can make the horse breeds of my Ming Dynasty better and the war horses more powerful.

And so on. These are all great contributions to our Ming Dynasty. They are more important than annihilating tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of enemy troops.

I tell you, don’t look down on people in other industries just because you are officials.

Many of them can play a role far beyond that of most of you here.

People from all walks of life can be granted titles for their contributions to the country, and this can be turned into an imperial decree and promulgated throughout the country.

The Imperial Guards must quickly let all the people of the Ming Dynasty know."

"Yes." Zhang Fengfu responded immediately.

Civil and military officials sighed in their hearts, but they knew they could not stop it.

Let Your Majesty do whatever he wants.

Of course, there were a few people who listened and thought it made sense.

"As for the third matter, conferring a title on Zhou Jian, I know that some people feel that it is inappropriate.

After all, Zhou Jian once rebelled against the Ming Dynasty.

But let me tell you, first, Zhou Jian was harmed by treacherous officials and had no choice.

Of course, no matter what, he was guilty of betraying the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Houzhao spoke very seriously.

Zhou Shanmin listened a little nervously, and the others listened carefully as well.

Your Majesty never jokes about important matters, and these words are also your Majesty's will, and they need to be figured out and analyzed.

Perhaps any one of these words could determine the future direction of the court.

“But what did he do after he rebelled against the Ming Dynasty?
He led his subordinates to the north to fight against the barbarians and never killed any of the Ming people. He cultivated the land outside the Yanmen Pass and lived a self-reliant life. He only killed corrupt officials and unjust people.

His flag has always been the sun and moon flag.

What is such a person?
He is a good man of the Ming Dynasty with a strong character. If he had not rebelled against the Ming Dynasty before, a second-class viscount would not be enough for his merits. "

As he spoke, Zhu Houzhao felt sorry for this good man again, looked at Zhou Shanmin, and said seriously: "Zhou Shanmin, you must inherit your father's honor and never bring shame to your father.

You must get the title that your father deserves, understand? Otherwise, I will never forgive you."

Zhou Shanmin felt his blood boiling and was deeply moved.

He knelt down with a thump, his eyes red and he said firmly: "I will never let your Majesty and my father down.

I would like to thank Your Majesty on behalf of my late father. "

"Boom boom boom!"

Three crisp bangs echoed throughout the hall.

"No need to kneel down. Remember, the backbones and legs of our Ming men, especially Ming soldiers, are made of iron. You can't kneel down easily. Do you understand?" Zhu Houzhao had already raised his hand and said in a solemn voice.

"Yes, I understand. From now on, I will only kneel to Your Majesty and my parents. I would rather die than kneel to anyone else." Zhou Shanmin said in a sonorous and powerful voice.

"I don't need you to kneel, get up quickly." Zhu Houzhao waved his hand.

Zhou Shanmin stood up and returned to his original position.

The high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty included Liu Jian, Xie Qian, the ministers, several dukes, and so on.

He couldn't help but glance at Zhou Shanmin, then looked up.

They were almost certain that His Majesty had no intention of buying people's hearts, and that Zhou Shanmin was not worthy of them. His Majesty just said this sincerely.

But it was precisely this sincerity that made Zhou Shanmin determined to be loyal and work hard to make achievements.

Your Majesty's sincerity towards others is still unmatched.

Even they, although sometimes scolded by His Majesty and deprived of many of their benefits.

But they still didn't really hate His Majesty. Instead, they respected him because His Majesty treated them sincerely.

So that they don't have to worry about things like "living with a king is like living with a tiger", or about his mood swings, or about being attacked innocently, or about not daring to use his talents, etc.

The emperor was upright and aboveboard, and the court atmosphere became more and more upright.

Let them all respect you from the bottom of their hearts.

Otherwise, no matter how powerful your majesty is or how powerful the imperial guards are, the annual salary will still increase.

Nowadays, all departments of the court would not be so busy.

Being somewhat willing under pressure and being forced under absolute power are two completely different situations.

Zhu Houzhao didn't know what Liu Jian and the others were thinking. He looked at the officials and continued, "I conferred the title on Zhou Jian to clear his name and to allow the Ming Dynasty to have more men like Zhou Jian.

For the sake of your own life and the lives of your loved ones, you may have to do something desperate.

But no matter what, you can never forget the country and the people."

“Also, there are too many people who have made contributions to our Ming Dynasty.

But over the years, more and more people have forgotten them or even don’t know them.

How can a hero be forgotten? "

"I have decided to build a shrine for meritorious officials in the capital.

Divided into literary and martial arts.

Wen includes civil officials and people from all walks of life who have made contributions to our Ming Dynasty.

Wu includes military generals, those in the martial arts world who have made contributions to our Ming Dynasty, and all the soldiers who died in battle.

Anyway, anyone who has made contributions to the Ming Dynasty will have a stone tablet erected in the Temple of Meritorious Officials for future generations to visit and commemorate. "

"Those meritorious officials who were demoted or stripped of their titles due to various mistakes are no exception, such as Li Shanchang, Lan Yu and others.

After all, merits are merits and faults are faults.

However, their tombstones will be collected together, and all their achievements and faults will be marked on them to serve as a warning to future generations.

By the way, all the emperors who had made contributions to the Ming Dynasty would have monuments erected in the Temple of Meritorious Officials to mark out their merits and faults.

Including Taizu and Taizong. "

It was fine before, because the Ming Dynasty was the only country where the emperor built temples for his subjects.

It was established by Taizu.

But the last two sentences shocked everyone.

In the past, it would have been fine to just grumble about the mistakes of Taizu and Taizong, but now, all of their mistakes are actually being recorded on the stone tablets of the Temple of Meritorious Officials for people all over the world to see.

This, this, is simply treason and an unfilial act!

Your Majesty, are you really not afraid that when you go to the underworld, Taizu and Taizong will join forces to fight you!

"Your Majesty, since this is a temple for meritorious officials, there is no need to enshrine Taizu, Taizong and others, right?" The Duke of Ying couldn't bear it any longer, and stood up and spoke tactfully.

Although the others did not speak immediately, they all nodded repeatedly to express their attitudes to His Majesty.

"For the Ming Dynasty, the emperor also had merits and faults.

The emperor should be treated the same as all the meritorious officials. This will show the fairness and justice of the meritorious officials temple and convince the people of the world so that they can learn from it and take warning. "

Zhu Houzhao said with some certainty.

He glanced at everyone and raised the corner of his mouth, "I know what you are thinking. You think that marking the faults of Taizu and Taizong will damage their reputation and the dignity of our Ming Dynasty.

But I tell you, the reputation of Taizu and Taizong and the majesty of the Ming Dynasty cannot be enhanced by covering up.

The facts are there, and justice is in the hearts of the people."

"The Ming Dynasty must be upright and honest with all the people and heroes of the Ming Dynasty.

If you don't even dare to face up to the mistakes of Taizu and Taizong, how can you have the face to evaluate the meritorious officials of the Ming Dynasty?"

(Chapter 3, thank you for your support.)
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　Thanks to Guan Yubuli for giving another 10000 Qidian coins. Thank you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)