Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 430 True Gold is Tested in Adversity!

Old Zhu was so angry that his face turned red and his chest heaved violently. He said angrily, "You just wait and see. In a few days, that kid will definitely encounter setbacks in promoting his new policies and new learning!"

Seeing Old Zhu's fury, Ji Yuan dared not utter another word.

At this moment, he could only bury his head deep, pressing it tightly against the ground, his body trembling slightly, wishing he could disappear from Old Zhu's sight immediately to avoid causing any more trouble.

Fortunately, after venting his anger, Lao Zhu quickly shifted his attention away from Yoshigaki.

He paced back and forth on the steps with his hands behind his back: "This kid has been busy inspecting troops, going to military academies to teach, frequently meeting with military generals, and promoting and appointing a lot of military officials lately."

"It seems he was well aware that once the new learning and new policies were fully implemented, the court officials and many local gentry would surely rise up in opposition."

"At that time, we will still have to rely on the military to stabilize the situation and suppress the opposition."

"Hmph, that's more like it. What's the point of wasting so much breath trying to reason with those civil officials and gentry?"

“Just kill those stubborn and troublemakers, and the rest will naturally shut up and dare not object anymore.”

He turned his gaze to Yoshigaki kneeling on the ground again, a hint of smugness in his eyes, and said, "Look, our grandson is much smarter than you."

"He knew in his heart that the implementation of the new learning and new policies would be fraught with difficulties, so he went to inspect the army early on, met with generals, promoted his confidants in the army, and made thorough preparations in advance."

"And you, you're still here hoping we'll lose to you, what a pipe dream."

"You just wait and see, you'll be barking like a dog."

Yoshigaki keenly noticed the change in Old Zhu's tone, and the tension in his heart immediately eased. He quickly replied, "This servant is the Emperor Emeritus's most loyal dog. If the Emperor Emeritus wants this servant to bark like a dog, this servant will learn to bark right now without any objection."

After saying that, he barked twice at the top of his lungs.

His exaggerated appearance made Old Zhu throw his head back and laugh out loud.

"Alright, alright, stop yelling. The outcome of this matter is not yet decided. It's too early to yell now."

Old Zhu seemed to have been struck by a memory, and he slapped his forehead: "The ninth day of the second month, oh dear, isn't that the day the imperial examinations begin?"

Yoshigaki replied, "The Emperor Emeritus is wise; today is indeed the day the imperial examinations begin."

Previously, the intelligence reports submitted by the secret agents and inspectors of the Embroidered Uniform Guard contained a lot of information about the candidates who went to the capital to take the imperial examinations, and the matter of the imperial examinations was mentioned in passing on many occasions.

However, Old Zhu is getting old and his memory is not as good as before. He often forgets many important things in an instant, but will suddenly remember them unexpectedly.

“That’s right, the imperial examination!” A sharp glint flashed in Old Zhu’s eyes. “The new education and new policies are about to be implemented, but the imperial examination is being held at this critical juncture. Those with ulterior motives will probably make a big fuss about the imperial examination.”

Yoshigaki looked puzzled and couldn't help but ask, "How... how could this be? The imperial examinations and the promotion of new learning and new policies are not directly related."

He was most adept at reading people and flattering, but he knew very little about the power struggles in the court, only scratching the surface.

Just as Old Zhu was about to explain, the copper bell in the courtyard rang without warning.

"Ding dong ding dong!"

The crisp sound of a bell broke the silence.

Since Zhu Yuanzhang retired to the inner palace and went into seclusion, the secret agents and inspectors of the Embroidered Uniform Guard would gather intelligence twice a day, morning and evening, and send it in through hidden mechanisms and secret passages.

However, if there is extremely important or urgent news, it will be delivered at any time, regardless of the circumstances.

At this moment, the copper bell rang, indicating that urgent intelligence had arrived.

Yoshigaki dared not slacken in the slightest and hurriedly ran towards the place where the intelligence was received.

He carefully retrieved the intelligence that had just been presented from the mechanism box and quickly returned to the courtyard.

In front of Lao Zhu, Yoshigaki unfolded the intelligence report and read its contents aloud in a calm voice.

"The Ministry of Justice arrested Fang Xiaoru on suspicion of participating in the imperial examination fraud and dispatched a large number of soldiers to surround the examination hall."

When Lao Zhu first heard the news, he was stunned, clearly not expecting it.

However, he was a seasoned veteran and quickly regained his composure, sneering, "Well, they finally couldn't hold back and jumped out to fight back. Using cheating in the imperial examinations as an excuse, that's quite a clever tactic."

Completely bewildered, Yoshigaki asked with a blank expression, "Does the Emperor Emeritus mean that the leak of the imperial examination questions was a ruse, and that those people's real purpose was to target Fang Xiaoru, the founder of the new school of thought, in order to oppose Your Majesty's upcoming new education and policies?"

Old Zhu laughed and said, "You're only half right. There's no doubt that you oppose the new learning and new policies, but the rumors about leaking exam questions and cheating may not be entirely false. There might be some unknown secrets behind it."

"Now, let's see how Hu'er handles this storm."

Old Zhu raised his head and gazed leisurely into the distance, as if he could see his grandson, who was facing a test, through the layers of palace walls.

"Didn't you always praise Tong'er for being better at governing the country than we were?"

"It cannot be denied that Tong'er is indeed capable, and we know that in our hearts. He governs the country according to his own ideas and makes the Ming Dynasty flourish."

"It's really impossible for anyone else to do that. Even we have to admit that we're not as good as him in this respect."

"But the real test is not how smoothly he implements the policies he has formulated, but how he breaks through the predicament when headwinds come and he is in trouble."

"Back then, we also went through countless setbacks and suffered a lot of losses. Otherwise, we wouldn't have caused the Empty Seal Case and the Guo Heng Case, and we wouldn't have let that bastard Hu Weiyong grow so powerful, almost causing a major disaster."

"The most elusive and uncontrollable thing in this world is always the human heart."

"If he can stabilize the court and smoothly implement the new learning and policies without causing any turmoil, just like before, then we will truly admire him."

……

Imperial Palace, Imperial Study Room.

Zhu Yunwen took out his pen and wrote down the various national policies that were about to be implemented.

The struggle for power is undoubtedly a perpetually vibrant theme on the political stage.

But this is not the ultimate goal; it is merely a means to remove obstacles in the way forward.

What he truly desired was to successfully implement his own set of policies for governing the country throughout the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yunwen had pondered the future path of the Ming Dynasty repeatedly, deliberating for countless days and nights.

He also went deep into the countryside many times, conducting extremely detailed investigations and understanding of the inside and outside of Ming society.

The policies for governing a country should never be too idealistic. Once they are divorced from reality, they are like rootless duckweed, unable to take root and be truly implemented.

Now, he has gradually come up with a relatively complete and comprehensive plan in his mind.

If, as was done before with the three Jurchen tribes, all the land of the landlords and gentry within the Ming Dynasty were confiscated and then redistributed equally to everyone, this would undoubtedly be an unrealistic fantasy.

However, if clever methods are employed to gradually reclaim the land from the landlords and gentry and force them to transform into capitalists, this is a very achievable goal. Capitalists, despite being criticized and condemned as exploiters by countless people in later generations, are still far more advanced and civilized than feudal landlords.

Once the capital market flourishes, the Ming Dynasty will surely usher in a more rapid and vigorous development phase, and it will not be difficult for it to leave all other countries in the world far behind.

With the prosperous Ming Dynasty as its foundation, possessing the resources and market of the entire planet, even the lowest proletarians of the Ming Dynasty could live a relatively wealthy and comfortable life.

More importantly, this will minimize the resistance to reform.

When a large number of gentry and landlords successfully transformed into capitalists, they were no longer stumbling blocks on the road to reform, but instead became a powerful driving force for reform.

This would not only minimize the social unrest caused by the reforms, but would also be the key to the success of Zhu Yunwen's reform plan.

Otherwise, even if he were the emperor, if he rashly made enemies of all the officials and gentry in the world, it would be harder than climbing to heaven to achieve success.

Even if force could be used to suppress the reforms, the bureaucratic class could simply go through the motions, using various excuses and delays to make a mess of the reforms and cause them to fail.

Moreover, the overall social atmosphere in the Ming Dynasty is extremely conservative.

Reforms are often accompanied by chaos and entirely new social trends, which inevitably plunges many people into a quagmire of thought, leaving them confused, bewildered, and at a loss.

This naturally includes the military.

After all, generals and soldiers in the military are also human beings, and they are also subject to the impact and influence of social trends.

Only by gradually transforming those wealthy gentry into capitalists could Zhu Yunwen gain a group of like-minded people, unite more forces, and promote the transformation of Ming society step by step.

Based on this, and combined with the forward-thinking vision bestowed upon him by his knowledge from his previous life, Zhu Yunwen confidently began to write down his next reform plan.

Reforms to the imperial examination system were also an important part of his grand plan.

As he was writing, a series of light footsteps came from outside the study. Immediately afterwards, a eunuch reported: "Your Majesty, Ministers of State Affairs Zhan Hui and Wang Zuo request an audience, saying they have urgent matters to report."

Is this an urgent matter to be reported?

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yunwen spoke almost without hesitation: "Summon them!"

Soon, Zhan Hui and Wang Zuo entered the study.

After exchanging greetings, Wang Zuo held up the imperial examination questions with both hands and said, "Your Majesty, I have just received news that this year's imperial examination questions have been leaked!"

Leaked exam questions?

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yunwen abruptly stood up, strode forward, and took the examination questions from Wang Zuo's hands.

This year marks the first year of the implementation of the new imperial examination system in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yunwen placed high hopes on this brand-new imperial examination system.

When the shocking news of the "examination questions being leaked" reached my ears, an uncontrollable rage surged within me.

The design of the new imperial examination system was all his work.

I thought I had done everything perfectly and that such a serious oversight as leaking the exam questions should not have happened.

Unless a system is utterly corrupt from top to bottom and from the inside out, with all established procedures and oversight mechanisms reduced to empty shells that serve no purpose, then everything else is a different story.

Because of these thoughts, when Zhu Yunwen first heard about the leak of the imperial examination questions, his immediate reaction was that the isolation and prevention measures he had previously set up had not been effective, and that this was very likely a systemic corruption that had a wide impact.

How could those people be so audacious?

"Which subject's exam questions were leaked?" Zhu Yunwen asked coldly, suppressing his anger.

"The Imperial Examination!" Wang Zuo quickly replied.

"Is it only for the Jinshi degree?" Zhu Yunwen pressed.

In his view, if it were truly a systemic problem, then all subjects should be affected and unable to escape it.

Wang Zuo was stunned by the question. After a moment's hesitation, he replied, "Your Majesty, as far as I know, the only situation is that the questions for the imperial examination were leaked."

Immediately afterwards, Wang Zuo recounted in detail the striking similarities between Fang Xiaoru's lectures and the imperial examination questions, as well as Pei Yanbing's secret meetings with Fang Xiaoru.

He was convinced that the coincidence in the exam questions must have been due to a leak of the imperial examination questions, and there was absolutely no other possibility.

After a lengthy discourse, Wang Zuo reported to Zhu Yunwen that he had already discussed the matter with Zhan Hui and jointly ordered the arrest of Fang Xiaoru, while also dispatching Wu Ding to surround the Examination Hall.

Zhu Yunwen listened quietly, his expression shifting with each word Wang Zuo spoke.

At first, he was a little confused when he heard this, and he couldn't quickly sort out his thoughts.

But as Wang Zuo continued his narration, Zhu Yunwen gradually came to his senses and suddenly realized the truth. He keenly perceived that these people were clearly trying to use the pretext of "leaking the imperial examination questions" to attack Fang Xiaoru and his supporters, thereby achieving the sinister goal of hindering the implementation of the new learning and new policies.

However, even after seeing through the conspiracy behind it, Zhu Yunwen still found it extremely difficult to handle.

After all, it is an indisputable fact that the questions in the imperial examinations were highly similar to the content of Fang Xiaoru's lectures.

Zhu Yunwen knew perfectly well that even if Wang Zuo had the greatest courage, he would never dare to lie about this matter.

It should be noted that every time Fang Xiaoru gave a lecture, the audience numbered no less than ten thousand. With such a large audience, it would be easy to find out whether Fang Xiaoru actually delivered those lectures. Any slight inaccuracy would be immediately exposed.

Now that this matter has been made public, the news will likely spread like wildfire throughout Jinling City very soon.

Those candidates who had studied diligently for ten years must have been outraged to hear about the leaks and cheating in the imperial examinations.

After all, this matter concerns their future and destiny.

Ordinary people, however, only seek the most basic fairness and justice.

"You handled it very well," Zhu Yunwen said calmly and without showing any emotion.

"For now, let's handle it the way you are doing. Lock Fang Xiaoru up in the Ministry of Justice's prison, and the Examination Yuan will continue to surround him."

"However, the imperial examination is currently underway. If we were to rush into the examination hall to arrest the chief examiner and the candidates, it would inevitably cause the examination to be unable to continue normally, which would have too great an impact."

"Whether there was actually any fraudulent activity, and how many people were involved, still needs to be thoroughly investigated."

"After the first round of the imperial examination for Jinshi is over in three days, we will take Pei Yanbing down for interrogation."

"Before this, you must not act on your own, and you must not rush into the examination hall to arrest people and disrupt the imperial examination."

Zhu Yunwen couldn't think of a brilliant solution for the time being. After weighing the options, he decided to first adopt the strategy of "delaying" and wait for the situation to change.

……

(End of this chapter)