Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 145 As long as the saints are alive, the thieves will not stop!
Zhang Juzheng's cabinet was stunned.

This time I entered the palace just to beg for mercy for Duke Yansheng.

How come before he even opened his mouth, he heard the emperor's decree to exterminate the Yanshenggong Mansion?

Seeing that Huang Jin, the eunuch in charge of writing in the Imperial Household Department, had gone to draft the imperial edict, Zhang Juzheng hurried forward and said, "Your Majesty, Duke Yansheng is the leader of all the ministers. The Duke Yansheng's Mansion is the headquarters of the literary world. Scholars, hermits, poets, monks, and scholars all flock to his door. There are still many Confucian disciples in the court. I hope Your Majesty will be cautious!"

After he finished speaking, he knelt on the ground and prostrated himself before the emperor.

Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang, and Chen Yiqin stood where they were, thought for a while, and then knelt on the ground.

All officials and scholars have read the works of sages, and Confucius is the first teacher of all students.

The most holy teacher.

Although the writings of sages are for reading and are useless when used to do things, denying their writings is tantamount to denying your own past efforts.

Future students will poke their spines.

Zhu Houcong laughed, "One word 'saint' can make you, the ministers of the current dynasty, kneel down for a long time, but don't you understand that governing a country has nothing to do with saints? On the contrary, as long as saints are not dead, thieves will not stop.

Don't you understand that the country can be governed by Confucianism, Taoism, or Legalism? As long as I want, all schools of thought can be revived at this moment.

Why do you react so strongly to this? Is it for the Ming Dynasty, for me, or for yourselves?"

Hear the words.

Zhang Juzheng, Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin were shocked.

The emperor not only wants to kill Confucianists, but also wants to kill the hearts of Confucianists. Do officials and literati really love Confucianism?
No!

Decades of hard study, even if it was initially motivated by love, has long since faded away with the passage of time.

What's more, after entering the government and becoming an official, although the quotations of sages are often on one's lips, if such great principles were useful, there would not be so many corrupt officials in the world.

The establishment of the Confucian archway and the founding of the Yanshenggong Palace were not for the country or the monarch, nor for the people, but to establish orthodoxy.

The officials in front are orthodox Confucianists, the officials behind are also orthodox Confucianists, and you yourself must also be orthodox Confucianists.

The same belief, thousands of years of Confucianism, has only proved one thing, that is, Confucianism is useless!
Born only to maintain power, they are favored by emperors of all dynasties.

Now, the emperor is going to discard Confucianism like a worn-out shoe.

The persistence of the Confucian official seemed particularly ridiculous.

Zhu Houcong walked out from behind the imperial desk, passed by Zhang Juzheng and others, and said calmly: "For two thousand years, dynasties have changed, and the Qin system has continued to this day. Whether it is Confucianism or Taoism, the foundation of governing the country has always been Legalism, and the fruits of victory have only been stolen by a group of hypocrites."

Be it morality or Taoism, it is ridiculous to use them to govern a country. The real way to govern a country has always been by law.

The nobility of morality and the naturalness of the Tao are only auxiliary to the law.

The country is maintained by military force, and governed by laws.

What is ridiculous and lamentable is that the Taoists in the early Han Dynasty and the Confucianists after Emperor Wu of Han, after becoming "thieves", began to teach people morality and Taoism.

Confucius was not hypocritical, Mencius was not hypocritical, and Yan Hui and other Confucian sages were not hypocritical either.

But the saints and wise men are too long ago, so long ago that even today a group of thieves can pretend to be Confucian scholars and misinterpret the saints’ original meanings.

Maybe I've been wearing the mask for too long and have forgotten who I am.

The thieves also forgot their original identities and disguised themselves as "saints".

But no matter how much he pretends to be like that, he can't hide the stench on his body.

The masks stuck on their faces were torn off, and Zhang Juzheng and his companions felt a burning sensation on their faces, as if their skin had been torn off along with the masks. Their horrible faces and scarlet mouths were exposed, and they kept saying "eat people".

At this moment, any language is pale and powerless, and any explanation is just sophistry.

If it were someone else, it would be fine to make a few sophistry, but facing the emperor, in Yuxi Palace, making sophistry is like insulting the emperor's wisdom, which is a way to death.

Zhang Juzheng was speechless.

Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin lowered their heads and remained silent.

The hall was silent, with only the rustling sound of Huang Jin writing the imperial edict with his brush.

Even though Huang Jin intended to write slowly to give the cabinet enough time to think, Zhang Juzheng and others remained silent.

The imperial edict has been drafted.

Huang Jin showed it to Zhu Houcong first, but Zhu Houcong, who was sitting on the futon, pointed to the kneeling people and said, "Read it to my elders."

"Yes."

Huang Jin bowed, turned to Zhang Juzheng and others, and said: "The Emperor, by the Will of Heaven, proclaims: I have heard that the most holy teacher has succeeded in educating people, and his reputation is still high after a thousand years.

The Kong family of Shandong, although they are descendants of a sage, have no intention of being loyal to the emperor and educating the people. Instead, they set up their own court and harmed the people.

The territory of Shandong has almost become a Confucian country. The people there do not know their emperor and father, nor do they fear the imperial court. They oppress the common people, seize their land, rely on the influence of their ancestors, block mountains and rob roads, refuse to pay taxes, and despise the laws.

Therefore, an imperial edict was issued to strip Duke Yansheng of his crown, belt, title and salary, and to confer the title of Duke Yansheng permanently!

He also ordered the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, the Censorate, the Jinyiwei, and the Eastern Depot to send imperial envoys to Shandong to thoroughly investigate the hidden cases in the Yansheng Mansion. The innocent would be pardoned, and the guilty would be beheaded first, and then the bodies of the people of Shandong would be killed and their ashes would be thrown into the sea!
Admire this! "

Finish reading.

Huang Jin looked at Zhang Juzheng and asked, "Lord, if there are no mistakes or objections, I will take it and reprint it."

Zhang Juzheng hurriedly said, "Eunuch Huang, you have worked hard!"

If you say it's hard, you must be from the underworld.

Huang Jin smiled knowingly, and looked at Hu Zongxian and the other two cabinet ministers. Seeing that no one had any objection, he took the imperial seal and stamped it heavily.

The imperial edict is fulfilled.

Anyone who expresses dissenting opinions further will be regarded as disobeying the imperial order, which is punishable by death at the very least.

The chief minister of the cabinet was here, so the Imperial Household Department saved the trouble of going to the cabinet to convey the imperial edict. Huang Jin directly handed the imperial edict to Zhang Juzheng, who kept it and returned to the cabinet before announcing it to the world.

There was no more dispute, and Huang Jin, with the permission of His Majesty, reached out and helped the four ministers, Zhang, Hu, Li and Chen, up one by one.

Zhu Houcong also gave Zhang Juzheng's answer, "Among the ministers, if there are any scholars, hermits, poets, monks, and scholars who are committed to the Duke of Yansheng's mansion, it would be better for them to follow the Duke of Yansheng."

He had killed so many officials in the imperial court that he didn't care about killing more, and he cared even less about those mountain people.

If you don't want to live anymore, you can follow Lord Yansheng to the underworld.

Zhang Juzheng trembled, and said respectfully along with the three cabinet members: "I obey your order!"

Since there was nothing else to do, Zhang Juzheng and the others chose to leave. When they walked out of Yuxi Palace, they suddenly realized that the official robes on the backs of their backs had been soaked. The official robes were tightly attached to their bodies, and when the wind blew, they felt a little cool.

Zhang Juzheng touched the imperial edict in his sleeve and sighed imperceptibly. When he looked up, he saw Gao Gong rushing over in a hurry.

It has ended!
(End of this chapter)