Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 330 Strip him of his title and leave with a letter.

Scholars often use the metaphor of a husband-wife relationship to allude to their relationship with the emperor. Therefore, they use "virtuous" as the highest praise for the concubines in the harem. In fact, they themselves really wanted to be called "virtuous"! In fact, the relationship between the emperor and his ministers is just like this: if the emperor is close to his ministers, they will be disrespectful; if he is distant from them, they will become resentful.

Wen Tiren always believed that the emperor didn't care about him, but how could Zhu Youjian not know him? He just had reservations about whether or not to use him. After all, the historical records didn't say anything good about him; he was even included in the "Biographies of Traitorous Officials"! The historical records praised him for "harboring selfish motives, forming cliques, and ruining the country."

Zhu Youjian was somewhat dumbfounded that Wen Tiren could get involved with the Fushe Society. In the original historical timeline, the two sides were mortal enemies! This also shows that Wen Tiren was opportunistic and only followed whoever offered him benefits! Zhu Youjian was aware of Wen Tiren's previous underhanded actions in the "Criticize Lin Biao and Wei Yingwu" movement, and he told him to calm down and reflect on his actions.

Admittedly, the Donglin Party was no good, the eunuch party was even worse, and local parties like the Zhejiang Party and the Shanxi Party also had their own ulterior motives. However, the combined negative effects of these parties were not as destructive as their infighting and factional strife!

Their infighting, while beneficial to the emperor's ability to maintain a balance and eliminate threats, was ultimately abandoned by Zhu Youjian without hesitation. He forcefully suppressed the factional strife to cool it down. Zhu Youjian held the power to approve death sentences, treating impeachment memorials from censors like toilet paper. Even if the eunuch faction and the Donglin faction disliked each other, they could only engage in mutual recrimination and petty squabbles!
These past few years have undoubtedly been the most comfortable for court officials. The need for security is a basic human need, and Zhu Youjian (Emperor Zhu Youjian) has perfectly satisfied this need.

Although Zhu Youjian (Emperor Zhu Youjian) often talked about conspiracy theories, he always acted in the right way. He never secretly executed anyone, never abused the secret police, and if he disliked an official, he would at most send him home. He did not kill many officials; even if he did kill someone, he did so through proper procedures and processes.

There were some effects. Civil and military officials were more willing to take on responsibilities, and factional struggles were greatly alleviated. Unless they were hacking at each other with swords, they could not kill their political enemies, or even affect their careers. This was because the emperor had his own set of logic for choosing whom to appoint, which was completely unfathomable to others and was not subject to their interference.

This stability is now facing new challenges. The infighting within the ruling party has eased, but the opposition parties have risen up! The Fushin Society, at its peak, had more than 3,000 members, spread throughout the government and the opposition, and was the largest opposition party that could influence the appointment and removal of the prime minister.

Zhu Youjian had mixed feelings about the Fushe Society. The society's slogan was very positive: "Revive ancient learning and strive to make it useful." Reviving ancient learning was the Renaissance, and striving to make it useful was practical learning! Both of these points appealed to Zhu Youjian.

The Fushe Society was largely composed of young scholars, a powerful force capable of changing the entire nation. However, despite its resounding slogans and noble ideals, the actions of its members were utterly absurd, bordering on the useless. It gave the impression that "humanity's grand ideals ultimately succumbed to its most base desires."

Zhu Youjian believed that among the Jiangnan literati who donated money, some were genuinely trying to help the disaster-stricken people, but he absolutely did not believe that Zhang Pu, the leader of the Fushe Society, was such a person! Zhu Youjian harbored murderous intent; this was the first time he had considered sending the Embroidered Uniform Guard to kill someone!

*Thud!* Zhu ​​Youjian glanced at the table of contents of the "Collection of Works by One Hundred and Three Masters of the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties" presented by Wen Tiren, and then threw it back in front of him from the steps of the imperial court in front of all the officials. "Your Majesty?!" Wen Tiren's heart skipped a beat, and he looked up blankly.

Zhu Youjian said with a gloomy face: "Our Great Ming established the imperial examination system to select officials, originally to find capable people to serve as officials and assist me in governing the country! Now that Zhang Pu is fond of writing books and studying, I will strip him of his academic title and order him to continue writing books! As for those who want to provide relief to the people, kind gentry will set up soup kitchens at their doorsteps and distribute soup to the disaster victims; in years of disaster, they will also reduce or waive rent for tenant farmers."

Yet they insist on making a big fuss about it in the imperial court—what are their true intentions?! The imperial court spends hundreds of thousands, even millions of taels of silver annually to provide disaster relief and reduce taxes in disaster-stricken areas, mobilizing countless manpower and resources. Yet they've only raised a mere 100,000 taels, and they want to steal the credit for the court's relief efforts and claim all the credit for themselves?!
In the sixth year of the Tianqi reign, a riot in Suzhou resisted the imperial decree and killed the imperial guards sent by the court. Afterwards, they simply found a few scapegoats to take the blame! Zhang Pu wrote "Record of the Five Martyrs' Tomb", which distorted the truth, incited public opinion, and slandered the court, causing the conflict between the court and the people to intensify and further fueling the tax resistance of the gentry in the Yangtze River region!

Living in the gentle embrace of Jiangnan, they have no idea how brutal the Jurchens and Tatars are to the north! The court collects taxes only to fund the army and defend against the enemy, not for me, the emperor, to embezzle! If the northern border falls, can these delicate scholars withstand the iron cavalry of the barbarians?!
They enjoy peace and prosperity, yet refuse to shoulder their responsibilities, spending their days hiding in the waterside gardens of Jiangnan, embracing beauties and composing poetry, never truly witnessing the suffering of the people! Though they have a heart to serve their country, they are utterly ignorant of the ways of governing; they claim to pursue practical learning, yet they know little about the actual affairs of the court. If such people were placed in high positions, who knows what would become of the Ming Dynasty!
Wen Tiren! Just how much favor did you receive from Zhang Pu that you're running around for him in the court? Could it be that you're also a member of the Fushe faction?!

"Your Majesty, please forgive me! I was confused for a moment and was deceived! That scoundrel Zhang Pu claimed to be my fellow townsman from Huzhou and said he wanted to present Your Majesty with a treasure. I thought Your Majesty was troubled by financial matters, which is why he did this today, but I failed to see his sinister intentions! Fortunately, Your Majesty has taught me, and I have realized my mistake! Your Majesty, I absolutely did not accept any benefits from this fellow. I beg Your Majesty to investigate clearly!"

What a brilliant move! The ministers looked at Wen Tiren with disdain.

Instead, Bi Ziyan stepped forward and said a few words in Zhang Pu's defense. As a former Minister of Revenue in Nanjing, he had considerable connections in the south and had heard of the Fushe Society. He felt that they were just a group of passionate young people, and although they were somewhat pragmatic, they hadn't done anything seriously wrong. He was just a bit older; if he were younger, he probably would have been interested in joining such a literary society.

Zhu Youjian glared at Bi Ziyan. It was just that old Bi was always jumping out to contradict him, yet Zhu Youjian couldn't bring himself to do anything to him! With Bi Ziyan taking the lead, some other officials who sympathized with the Fushe Society also mustered up the courage to say a few words of advice. In fact, some of these people happened to be members of the Fushe Society!

Zhu Youjian was angry. He said, "Work is work, and life is life. If you want to study poetry and literature, go home and study it!" Zhu Youjian declared the Fushe Society an illegal organization, and from then on, anyone found to be a member of the Fushe Society would be dismissed from office and never be employed again!

(End of this chapter)