The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 612 The Academy is Destroyed
Yuan Keli is indeed efficient.

He finished the trial of Dong Lin in one day.

The next morning around 7 a.m., he brought his confession to the Imperial Study to request an audience.

Emperor Wanli carefully examined the confessions he had obtained during the interrogation and couldn't help but nod in approval, saying, "Hmm, not bad. Interrogate them like this, and they'll feel like they can't clear their names no matter what."

Is this how they're going to conduct the trial?
Upon hearing this, Yuan Keli cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, do you intend to continue the interrogation?"

of course.

Emperor Wanli nodded slightly, then explained in detail: "This is a case of treason, you can't just let it go after one trial."

You have to keep interrogating them, pulling them out for questioning every few days until they can't take it anymore, until they're desperate.

Furthermore, you can also entice them to confess the virtuous people they've misled, those who have been tricked into submitting memorials and offering advice, and even those who have spread rumors everywhere. You can induce them to confess all of these.

Then, you catch those upright officials and interrogate them as well.

This is how a treason case should be tried. If you just give it a cursory review, it looks fake.

Well, that makes sense.

The question is, by dragging this into a mess, how many upright officials do you intend to implicate?
Upon hearing this, Yuan Keli thought for a moment, then cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, should all those upright officials also be dismissed from their posts and stripped of their titles?"

This is not a matter of dismissing officials or removing them from their posts.

Wanli shook his head slightly, then explained in detail: "Minister Li, our goal this time is to cause the Qingliu faction to collapse. I want to ensure that no one in the court will dare to call themselves Qingliu from now on."

I had already instructed Meng Yanghao to send his men to persuade those upright officials, but the results were not very good; some of them remained stubbornly resistant.

This time it was just right, the Donglin faction had all confessed. The Qingliu faction not only relied on their numbers to submit random memorials and remonstrances, attempting to deceive the emperor, but also deliberately spread rumors and fabricated stories to frame important officials of the court.

We can seize this opportunity to completely dismantle the upright officials in the court. For those die-hard upright officials, you can accuse them of deceiving the emperor, spreading rumors, falsely accusing important court officials, and even plotting rebellion.

At that time, we will not only dismiss these guys from their posts and strip them of their official status, but also exile them to the border regions so that they can never return to the Ming Dynasty.

As for the other upright officials, we'll see how it goes. If they obediently beg for mercy, you can give them twenty strokes of the cane as punishment.

Those who hesitate and refuse to comply, you should catch them and beat them a few more times, until they no longer dare to call themselves upright.

Those who commit such acts should be dismissed from their posts and investigated, and they should be expelled from the court.

In short, I hope that after this, there will be no more upright officials in the court.

This has been explained clearly enough.

His Majesty's intention is not to implicate any number of upright officials, but to make them disappear completely!

Upon hearing this, Yuan Keli nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Emperor Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Have the arrangements been made in Southern Zhili?"

I don't have that much power.

Yuan Keli said cautiously, "Your Majesty, the matter concerning Southern Zhili still requires the approval of the Cabinet. Your humble servant has already submitted a document to the Cabinet in accordance with your instructions."

As they were talking, Grand Secretary Shen Li happened to come to request an audience.

After the emperor and his minister exchanged greetings, Wanli Emperor asked directly, "Zhonghua, have you sent a document to the Ministry of Justice in Southern Zhili ordering them to handle the matter of the Donglin Academy?"

That's why I came here to ask you.

Shen Li cautiously said, "Your Majesty, destroying the academy might provoke the wrath of scholars throughout the land."

Would scholars still dare to be angry?

Wanli thought for a moment, then solemnly said, "Zhonghua, have you forgotten what the Grand Secretary said back then?"

Sages and worthies impart teachings through the classics, and the nation uses the classics to guide its people. If one can understand the classics, one has already mastered the knowledge.

Why bother establishing separate factions and gathering empty talk?

From now on, all officials in charge of education shall supervise instructors and students to earnestly study and practice the principles and doctrines of the classics they have learned, so that they may apply them in the future.

It is forbidden to establish academies, gather followers, or call upon idlers and vagrants from other places to engage in empty talk and neglect their duties.

The Donglin Academy was not just a place for empty talk and factionalism; they were forming cliques for personal gain and plotting wicked schemes.

"You just need to issue a document to the Ministry of Justice in Southern Zhili, ordering them to demolish the Donglin Academy. Anyone who dares to complain will be treated as a traitor."

Sigh, it would have been better if you hadn't mentioned the Grand Secretary.

The Grand Secretary angered scholars across the land by destroying academies.

Fine, since you're determined to destroy Donglin Academy, there's no point in trying to dissuade you.

Upon hearing this, Shen Li sighed inwardly, then cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant obeys the decree."

Emperor Wanli nodded slightly, thought about it carefully, and then instructed, "Li Qing, don't rush to arrest the Qingliu people who confessed to the Donglin Party."

Zhonghua's concern about angering scholars across the land was not without reason.

The scholars will surely be furious when we demolish Donglin Academy.

However, most scholars would not dare to cause trouble immediately; they would wait for someone to take the lead before making a scene.

Those in the court who still call themselves "pure officials" will definitely lead the uprising. When they start causing trouble, we'll arrest them and give them a good beating.

This is called "killing the chicken to scare the monkey." The chickens in Qingliu are kept to frighten the monkeys among the scholars.

Yuan Keli nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

That should be about right.

Wanli thought about it carefully again before waving his hand.

Shen Li and Yuan Keli quickly bowed and took their leave.

Seeing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun couldn't help but ask, "Father, what exactly is the academy?"

This is a bit complicated.

After thinking it over carefully, Wanli patiently explained, "Academies are somewhat similar to private schools."

However, academies were much larger than private schools, and they did not teach students who had not yet obtained official titles, such as those who had only completed the preliminary examinations.

The academies generally taught those who aspired to pass the imperial examinations and become successful candidates, while some academies even taught those who had already passed the highest level of the imperial examinations.

These academies are no longer teaching and nurturing students, but rather forming cliques and pursuing personal gain. They generally use the pretext of criticizing current affairs to gather their factions.

Donglin Academy is a prime example of this kind of academy. They weren't teaching and nurturing students; they just wanted to form factions and seize power in the court.

You must pay attention to this in the future. It's not that academies that genuinely focus on teaching and nurturing students can't be established, but any academy that uses the guise of criticizing current affairs to form cliques and engage in self-serving activities must be destroyed as soon as you discover it.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun slowly nodded and said, "I understand."

Wanli nodded slightly, thought about it carefully, and then asked, "Chang Geng, your family runs a private school, right?"

Oh dear, how did this get to my house?
Song Yingxing nodded hurriedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, my father makes a living by running a private school. My family's private school has been running for twenty or thirty years."

Emperor Wanli was actually thinking about how to suppress the academies.

He thought for a moment, then asked, "Did you attend the county school?"

How did we end up talking about county schools again?

Song Yingxing nodded repeatedly and said, "Your humble servant attended the county school for a few months."

Wanli continued, "Does the county school provide room and board?"

Song Yingxing nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, when you go to the county school, food and lodging are provided."

After thinking for a moment, Wanli asked, "How many scholars does Fengxin have, and how many scholars has the county school enrolled?"

This is it.

After thinking for a moment, Song Yingxing carefully said, "Your Majesty, we have quite a few scholars in Fengxin, probably as many as forty or fifty."

However, our county school only admits a dozen or so scholars, and other county schools are about the same, because the imperial court allocates enough food to each county to support a dozen or so scholars.

That's not a big problem. At most, supporting 100,000 scholars would cost a couple hundred thousand taels a month.

The key issue was the number of successful candidates in the imperial examinations. The Imperial Colleges in the north and south could only accommodate a few hundred successful candidates, which meant that more than 90% of them had to study at privately run academies.

It seems we should consider establishing Imperial Colleges in all thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and expanding the Imperial Colleges in both the northern and southern capitals, offering free education to those who have passed the imperial examinations. Only in this way can we reduce the space for private academies to survive.

While Emperor Wanli was still thinking about how to shrink the space for private academies, scholars in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty were in an uproar over the Donglin Academy.

At first, few people believed that the Donglin Party was plotting a rebellion.

However, after it was revealed that Li Sancai and Han Kuang were remnants of the three major powerful clans in Puzhou, the matter began to spread like wildfire.

Immediately afterwards, the Ministry of Justice began arresting people, and all the Donglin members in the court were thrown into the Ministry of Justice's prison.

This is not over yet.

A few days later, the Ministry of Justice in Southern Zhili also began arresting people, including Gu Xiancheng, Gu Yuncheng, Qian Yiben, and other Donglin members who were not in official positions.

Immediately afterwards, the Ministry of Justice of Southern Zhili actually demolished the Donglin Academy!

This caused an uproar among scholars across the land, and wherever there was an academy, there was a chorus of criticism.

Those upright officials in the court were even more furious, each one of them acting as if they had swallowed gunpowder.

Early that morning, around 7 a.m., Shen Li came to the Imperial Study again, carrying a pile of memorials, requesting an audience.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, he said with great concern, "Your Majesty, many upright officials have submitted memorials saying that we should not have destroyed the academy."

What are you afraid of?

I'm just waiting for them to submit their memorials.

Emperor Wanli took the memorial, glanced through it, and then said coldly, "Do they value the academy more than the Ming Dynasty? Since they only care about the academy and not the Ming Dynasty, then they should not stay in the Ming Dynasty."

"Guards, take these memorials to the Ministry of Justice and order Yuan Keli to begin arresting people. Arrest anyone who submits a memorial and interrogate them thoroughly!"

Alas, why can't His Majesty tolerate any upright conduct?

Seeing this, Shen Li could only sigh inwardly.

(End of this chapter)