The First Uncle of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 194: Creation of Everyone
Not every Fengyang person is a Huaixi noble, and not every Fengyang person is in agreement with the nobles.

It is true that Lü was from Fengyang, but he was an official in the Yuan Dynasty. He was a scholar and a civil servant. However, he surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang relatively late, and came after he had established a firm foothold in Yingtian Prefecture.

The result was that the people of Huaixi did not recognize him, and the civil servants in eastern Zhejiang did not like him either.

Naturally, he was in an awkward situation, but fortunately he was making steady progress in his official career and was now a fifth-rank official in the Secretariat of the Left. If he took another step further, he could basically be considered a high-ranking official in the imperial court.

Ma Xun hooked his finger and said, "Come here."

Lu Ben's eyes suddenly went blank. His colleagues in the civil service looked at him worriedly. The military officers glared at him angrily. If this man didn't hurry over, he would probably be taken away.

Lü Ben suppressed his anger and stepped forward, "This subordinate pays respect to Duke Xu."

Ma Xun asked, "What is Lu?"

Lü Ben answered directly, "The Spring and Autumn Annals of Yan Zi says: Therefore, the gods and people are obedient, and the mountains and rivers accept salaries. The Book of Han records that salaries should not exceed their limits. The Book of Rites says: Only when a person is appointed to a position can he be given a title, and only when his position is determined can he be given a salary. Salary means blessing and salary!"

Ma Xun nodded and asked again, "Where does the fortune come from?"

Lu Ben was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously said, "Since it is a gift from His Majesty."

"What are the people?" Ma Xun asked, "If you ever say 'Yang, one ruler and two people, this is the way of a gentleman. Yin, two rulers and one people, this is the way of a villain', I will kill you immediately."

Didn’t you claim to be illiterate? How come you know the "Book of Changes" now?

The "people" in "The Book of Changes" is sometimes extended to mean "ministers and officials in ancient times."

However, the same "Book of Changes" also defines "people" as the vast number of grassroots workers.

Ma Xun pointed at Lü Ben and said, "Did your salary fall from the sky or grow from the ground?"

This is also nonsense. The high salaries of these officials are indeed mainly due to the taxation of the court. But then again, these are also a reflection of the ability of the officials.

After studying hard and experiencing the ups and downs in career, it is normal to get a salary.

It simply means that one should feel at ease when receiving these salaries, and not use them to seize wealth or abuse power for personal gain.

Ma Xun continued to point at Lu Ben's nose and asked, "When the king worries, the minister works hard; when the king humiliates, the minister dies. Do you know these principles?"

Lu Ben could only reply, "Of course I know."

"Your Majesty is worried right now, and some people are trying to persuade you to marry a foreign princess. How can you not feel humiliated?" Ma Xun grabbed Lü Ben's collar and asked, "Do you have any children at home?"

Lu Ben was frightened by Ma Xun's unreasonable nagging, "Duke Xu, no one has ever mentioned a marriage alliance!"

Ma Xun raised his voice, "Let me ask you, do you have any children at home?"

Lu Ben was extremely ashamed and angry, and could only speak, "I have no sons, only daughters."

Ma Xun threw Lü Ben aside and said, "When the King of Qin took me as a hostage, he must have summoned your daughter as a maid. My lords, remember to share your worries. I will definitely take your legitimate sons and grandsons, your legitimate daughters and granddaughters with me. I cannot let the head of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty be humiliated, and you can rest easy."

At this moment, Zhan Tong, Tao Kai and others became anxious. This bastard Ma Xun is not a good son!

There was clearly no such thing as a marriage alliance, but he repeatedly insisted on defining the marriage between the King of Qin and Wang Baobao's sister as a marriage alliance.

Now it has gone a step further. If it was just angry words, it would be fine. The key is that some words, once spoken, almost cut off some people's chances of "advancement".

It is almost impossible for the children of the civil servants present to become a prince consort or a princess in the future.

Didn't you hear what Uncle Ma said? Once the King of Qin marries Wang Baobao's sister, the legitimate sons and daughters of other civil officials can only be slaves and maids and can only be servants.

Even if Ma Xun was just speaking in anger, given his special status in the Ming royal family, there are some things that the emperor and empress will consider more.

This touched upon the actual interests of some people. They hadn't yet found any way forward, but this bastard Ma Xun actually wanted to block them all, at least directly in the Hongwu Dynasty.

The Meridian Gate was very lively, but the Qianqing Palace was very deserted.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat on a chair, concentrating on reviewing memorials. Ma Xiuying, with her back to Zhu Yuanzhang, was sewing shoe soles.

The couple were sulking and not talking, and Zhu Biao was also in a difficult position.

If I speak for my mother, my father will scold me. If I speak for my father, my mother will blame him for being heartless. If I take a neutral stance, it means that I am not caring about my parents, and I have raised them in vain!

As for Zhu Su, he ran away a long time ago. I set up my own residence last year and now I live alone in the palace.

Zhu Jingru and Zhu Jingxian were carefully doing needlework, they couldn't run away. Suddenly a guard came and knelt down, "Your Majesty, Duke Xu took action, grabbing the clothes of the Minister of Rites and the Minister of Personnel. Other nobles and generals also took action, Duke Cao and the general seemed to have strangled the necks of the civil officials."

Zhu Yuanzhang and his men knew about it when Ma Xun went to block the door. Although it was a little delayed, it was almost live broadcast.

Ma Xiuying lowered her head and sewed shoe soles again. The concubines in the harem were not allowed to interfere in government affairs, so it was not her turn to take care of these matters now.

Zhu Yuanzhang closed the memorial with some annoyance. How could it be appropriate to take action directly in the Meridian Gate?

Seeing that Ma Xiuying didn't say anything or express her opinion, Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly. If you don't discipline your brother, then I won't discipline him either! When your brother really gets into trouble, I will have to protect him!

Again!
Zhu Yuanzhang and his men heard the report about Ma Xun blocking the door, or some of the previous remarks.

Zhu Biao felt that if he continued to make a scene, the situation would get worse, so he could only speak up, "Pass on the emperor's order to summon Duke Xu to an audience, and the rest of the civil and military officials to return to their respective offices to handle their affairs. Pass on the empress's order that Duke Cao and the general who guards the country are behaving rudely, and they are to wait outside the Qianqing Palace."

The guard looked at the emperor and empress carefully. Since the emperor and empress had no objection, he hurried to convey the order.

"Am I old or demented? Do I need you to pass on my orders?" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Biao angrily. "You are the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty. All I have done is for you. Do I need you to pretend to be a good person?"

Ma Xiuying said unhappily, "State affairs are not state affairs, and family affairs are not family affairs. Are you so foolish to judge a case?"

Zhu Biao was about to say something, but gave up.

Sitting aside angrily, "Jingru, pour the tea."

"You don't have hands?" Ma Xiuying's voice became louder. "Didn't you see your sister doing anything?"

Zhu Jingru put down her sewing and quickly poured tea for Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying, and then poured tea for Zhu Biao. Seeing her elder brother winking at her, she understood.

"Father, Mother, there's no more tea." Zhu Jingxian said immediately, "Jingru and I will go get some tea."

Although the reason was poor, Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying could do nothing as they watched their two daughters slip away so swiftly. This eldest son was really something. Was he afraid of a fight or a quarrel, so he cleared out the family first?

At the Meridian Gate, Ma Xun was a little aggressive. "Minister of Rites, let me ask you a question. Do you want the King of Qin to marry a foreign woman as his concubine, or do you want to cut off his escape route?"

"Be careful with your words!" Tao Kai was furious. "Duke Xu is being rude. I will report this to His Majesty and impeach you!"

Since Li Shanchang had already shown up, he had no choice but to come forward and said, "You are joking, brother. How can there be a saying that the prince will marry a foreign prince?"

Ma Xun looked at Li Shanchang unhappily, "Prime Minister Li, we are in the court now, I am not your younger brother! If I were your younger brother, why didn't you say anything when they humiliated the Duke of Wei and humiliated my niece?"

In other words, relying on the emperor and empress as his backers, Ma Xun is now firing on all cylinders, scolding anyone he catches.

Now they are directly saying that Li Shanchang and the Huaixi nobles are not of the same mind. Now they are blaming him for not speaking for Deng Yu and the Deng family, and for going with the flow or even adding fuel to the fire!
Although Li Shanchang had lost the power to manage the Secretariat before, he still has tremendous power now. Only such a brave uncle Ma would not only not give him face but also slap him in the face.

Although Li Shanchang was a vengeful and petty person, he always appeared to be a generous elder. "My dear brother, there have always been some political disagreements in the court. This matter has not been decided yet and is still under discussion."

"You shouldn't bring up these things!" Ma Xun was even more unhappy. "Why did you choose to bring them up at this time? Are you bullying the Huaixi people because they are out fighting? Are you bullying the immature boy or the ignorant girl?"

These are really heart-piercing words. The general is fighting outside, and these civil servants are thinking about bullying the general's children.

It would be so disheartening if this got out. It would completely and clearly separate the civil and military officials. There would be no chance for these two major groups to get closer!
Hua Gao, Guo Decheng and others were immediately annoyed. Yes, these civil servants were shady. Didn't they dare to say these things when Xu Da, Chang Yuchun and Deng Yu were not in Beijing? Isn't this bullying the "orphans and widows"?

Li Shanchang wanted to explain, but suddenly he realized it.

This Ma Xun, if this guy didn't have the Emperor and Empress's instructions, I'm afraid he had other ideas. It's true that he was protecting the King of Qin and speaking for the people of Huaixi, but this guy was also determined to further decentralize power.

The purpose of decentralization is naturally to make it easier for the emperor to centralize power in the future!
A scoundrel uses his rogue face to offend people, to win over some people, and to use some rogue and shameless means to do things, so as to help the emperor further disintegrate and divide the Secretariat and the Grand Marshal's Office.

The military and politics are now separated, and the power of the Secretariat and the Grand Council will definitely be weakened in the future!
"His Majesty's word!"

A eunuch came running in in a panic, "Your Majesty has summoned Duke Xu to an audience, and the rest of the civil and military officials must return to their respective offices to handle matters without delay. Her Majesty the Queen has issued an imperial decree: Duke Cao and the general who guards the country are rude, and they must go to the Qianqing Palace to await questioning."

All the civil and military officials were about to cry. The farce of Duke Xu blocking the door had now come to a temporary end.

But the emperor’s way of handling the matter is wrong. Duke Xu wants to see the emperor?

Shouldn't they first conclude that he was being unreasonable and rebellious? Why was there only an audience with the emperor and no mention of his crimes?

Li Wenzhong and Mu Ying made mistakes, they strangled the civil servants. But this matter was clearly the idea of Duke Xu, why were they the first to be identified?
The most important thing is that he acted rudely and was called in for questioning by the Queen. That is a family matter. Are they even planning not to punish him directly?

(End of this chapter)