Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 258 Abolish official titles and simplify writing!
In late spring in March, it rained continuously and there was no clear sky for more than ten days.

Outside the pavilion, the peach and apricot blossoms were blown down by the wind, leaving a mess.

A winding stone path is wet and full of crimson, pink and white. This scene makes people feel even more melancholy.

The farewell banquet lasted for about an hour, and the rain outside the pavilion gradually subsided, with only a slight cool breeze occasionally mixed with a few raindrops.

The officials from the Censorate, the Ministry of Justice, and the Dali Temple who came to see him off said goodbye and left the meeting one after another, holding hands, choking with sobs, and giving advice and words of advice.

Yan Jing, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, bowed and thanked them one by one, but he did not feel sad. The post carriage and accompanying officials were waiting under a gnarled pine tree in the distance.

There are only two people left in the pavilion: Yan Jing and Hai Rui.

This scene made Hai Rui feel emotional. His sworn brother Yan Jingguan was the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate. Not only did he have a good relationship with his subordinate censors, he also had close relations with officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple.

Although the three law departments have different responsibilities, their duties such as handling criminal cases, analyzing prisons and arresting people are similar.

The three judicial officials often communicated with each other about cases and exchanged official documents in order to resolve pending cases. When encountering difficult problems, they often discussed matters together. However, everyone had their own ideas, especially on the case. Different investigative directions would often produce different results, and different judgments would often involve each other's interests.

Both publicly and privately, the three judicial offices were not particularly harmonious, but Yan Jing was able to manipulate the situation and win the respect of all officials. This was a rare trait, and Hai Rui could not help but sigh that he was inferior to him.

Although Hai Rui was seen off by tens of thousands of people when he left Chun'an County, Hangzhou Prefecture, and Jinling City, the vast majority of them were ordinary people. A small number of officials were there to see him off and to confirm that he was really leaving.

He won the hearts of the people but lost the hearts of the officials.

"I still don't understand what you did, brother."

Seeing that everyone had gone far away, Hai Rui spoke up, "It is impossible to track down a forged memorial case. Why did you personally lead a team to investigate? Do you really want to go on a boat tour during this fireworks month?"

The whole world is the same.

The more serious the matter, the harder it is to find out anything because of the fear of actually finding out something.

Hai Rui was a man of particular concerns. If he were among those ordered to investigate the case, he would certainly do everything he could to uncover the main culprit who forged memorials and slandered the emperor's reputation, as well as other crimes.

However, the person ordered to investigate the case was not him, but his newly adopted brother. Hai Rui could not help but give him earnest advice.

Hai Rui once stood alone on the opposite side of the entire Jiangnan officialdom and knew the hardships and difficulties involved. It was precisely because he had been through the rain that he did not want his brother to be wet in the rain again, to be teased and deceived by those governors and provincial governors who were as cunning as ghosts and as cunning as foxes.

This was an embarrassment deliberately created for His Majesty by the governors of various provinces in order to relieve the anger in their hearts.

Your Majesty, the governors of all provinces, no one took the person who forged the memorial seriously. He was clearly the protagonist of the whole incident, but no one cared.

The previous memorial to increase the salaries of middle and lower-level officials in the Ming Dynasty and reduce the salaries of high-level officials has spread throughout the country.

Led by the Cabinet, the ministers of the six ministries and nine departments, as well as the local governors, all submitted petitions to reduce their salaries.

If things are not voluntary, one will feel even more frustrated. When investigating a case, the governors of various provinces may not only refuse to cooperate but may also create obstacles.

Hai Rui was not interested in the game between the emperor and his subjects that did not involve the people, and continued, "When you were in the Censorate for two months, you cleared 3,000 people from prison, and none of them complained unjustly. You performed countless meritorious deeds and became famous. The world heard about it. It was the time when you could spread your wings and fight for the people of the world, but you got caught in the whirlpool, just like the fallen red petal outside the pavilion, which was stuck in the mud, tarnishing its color and fragrance, and making people feel pity."

In his opinion, instead of being involved in the vortex of power, it is better to do more practical things for the people, review more old cases, settle more unjust imprisonments, and save a few wronged people.

When the dust settles, whether the emperor gives in or the high officials bow their heads, it has nothing to do with the common people.

"Brother, you just arrived in the capital and don't know the emperor very well. But from what I can tell, after the emperor got married and crowned the empress, his governance methods gradually began to change. His laws are no longer so harsh. The mining disasters and civil unrest in Kaihua and Dexing counties in Zhejiang only killed a few people and exiled dozens. It seems that the emperor has regained his compassion and forgiveness."

Yan Jing explained Hai Rui's change of heart and said in a calm voice, "In a prosperous era, there should be a sage ruler.

But there are always people who think that the Saint’s kindness is a sign of weakness, so they tempt him again and again.

Yuan Fu's Zhang family attempted to infiltrate the Ming Dynasty's court, military, and business circles.

The deceased Chief Eunuch of the Imperial Household Department and Supervisor of the Eastern Depot, Chen Hong, colluded with Gao Gong, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Imperial Court, to spy on the emperor.

Now, scholars from all over the country are expressing their aspirations in poetry, remembering the late emperor and vowing not to submit to His Majesty.

The forged memorials could be spread throughout the two capitals and thirteen provinces, and even reach the chieftains in the border areas.

I am worried that if this continues, the emperor's heart will turn towards a cruel direction again, and the various major cases in the 40 years of Jiajing may continue.

Today’s high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty are not like Yan Song and Xu Jie. Gentlemen are judged by deeds rather than their hearts. To some extent, it is not an exaggeration to say that “the court is full of good officials.”

If the conflict between the emperor and his ministers intensifies in the future, leading to unimaginable court changes and fighting between the emperor and his ministers, how will future generations record it?

The holy name must not be harmed. I, Yan Jing, have been deeply blessed by the Emperor. I will repay his kindness even if I die. I have made up my mind. Brother, there is no need to persuade me any further.

It is said that everyone has his own aspirations. Even if one is stuck in a quagmire or a ditch, there is no regret! "

Last year.

Hundreds of thousands of Ming Dynasty people died.

There were officials, scholars, businessmen, common people...all kinds of people died in those major cases in the Jiajing period.

Although there are no innocent people, in this peaceful and prosperous era, we cannot continue killing like this.

One hundredth of the Ming Dynasty's population can die, but not like this.

The "good officials" who have passed so many screenings are the backbone of the Ming Dynasty and cannot die again.

Hai Rui sighed, "I'm afraid that I won't be able to serve you, and my merits will be wasted, and I will only feel sad."

From last year till now, there have always been people telling him how prosperous this era is, how it will be remembered forever, and how it will be famous for generations to come, but he feels that there is no such thing as a prosperous era in the world.

What he pursued was a world without tyranny, without chaos in the law, without the shame of corruption, and without injustice suffered by good people.

He didn't care who lived or died, or how many people died. As long as it was not the common people who died, he would be happy even if his head and body were separated.

Civil servants and literati will always exist after they die.

Therefore, even though they were brothers of different surnames, their pursuits were different. Facing Yan Jing, who pursued a prosperous dynasty, Hai Rui could only choose to respect and bless him.

Hai Rui raised his head and looked at the sky. At this time, the spring clouds were rolling, and the rain was sporadic. The haze shrouding the distant woods was gradually blown away by the breeze, and the fragrance filled the air, and the sky opened up.

The dark green and light emerald green all around add a layer of spring color. The peach and apricot trees are smiling, and their fair faces are charming. Intermittent chirping of birds can be heard in the woods.

"It's time for me to leave. Thank you for seeing me off." Yan Jing stood up and bowed. Hai Rui sighed repeatedly, bowed in return, followed Yan Jing out of the Sad and Happy Pavilion, and walked slowly towards the post carriage.

……

Lü Fang and the foot basin are no longer in Yuxi Palace. Huang Jin is on duty today.

Zhu Houcong's relaxed attitude towards Lu Fang had long disappeared without a trace, and his face was even colder and harder than the bronze chime beside him.

After seeing off his sworn brother, Hai Rui came alone to meet the emperor. He was given an embroidered cushion and sat there.

Zhu Houcong's expression was not towards Hai Rui, and there was still no rift between the monarch and his subject.

These days, Hai Rui traveled around the capital and inspected the construction of community schools in counties and townships. There are people who dare to take the risk under the feet of the emperor, but they are few and far between. Few people dare to make a fuss about these schools and institutions built for the future of the Ming Dynasty, so there is no problem with the quality.

Ten years of trees, a hundred years of trees.

According to Hai Rui's judgment, as long as there is no earthquake, the community school built with huge investment can last for a hundred years.

At the same time, Hai Rui visited some famous scholars and hermits in the capital, hoping to invite these scholars who were well-read in poetry and books to come out of seclusion and become teachers to educate the children of the Ming Dynasty.

But as the cabinet minister Hu Zongxian said, this group of literati was determined to go against the court and were unwilling to submit to the emperor. When faced with a visit from Hai Rui, the court's Minister of Rites, they either refused, or talked about other things, or even made sarcastic remarks, or simply avoided the visit.

Hai Rui had not yet toured the local area or visited literati in other places, but he already understood the literati's plans.

"Open up more community schools and educate the world" is the national policy. The court is willing to give a large sum of money, and the scholars cannot stop it.

So, after building a community school and recruiting students, we must hire teachers, right?
This group of literati were determined not to leave the seclusion or teach the Buddhists. The characters used in the Ming Dynasty today were developed from regular script, known as "Tai Ge style", and the most circulated was the round-style official script.

Elegant, correct and peaceful texts are often the most difficult to write, the most difficult to recognize, and the most difficult to learn. Without a good teacher, it will be difficult to master them even after ten years of study.

Articles written in difficult to understand words are obscure, especially those written by sages, which are even more daunting.

In terms of official career, one must at least become a student, which means one has some knowledge of literature and science.

The difficulty of the text greatly increases the difficulty for children to learn to read, the speed of their intelligence development, and their interest in reading.

Putting myself in other people's shoes, Hai Rui also felt discouraged by the complicated writing when he was young. If it weren't for the old lady Hai's beating, he would probably have become a fisherman in Lingnan.

Officials and gentry all paid taxes and served as officials, which dealt a heavy blow to the literati of the Ming Dynasty. Now, the world is well-fed, and whether one has equal access to land or not, as long as they are willing to work in the fields, they will not starve to death, even if they just scatter grain seeds on the ground.

I would rather face the earth and back to the sky than be a teacher of the new policy.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were no more than 3.6 million registered students and those who had achieved academic status or above, of which 400,000 to 500,000 were officials. It can be said that there were a total of 3 million people in the Ming Dynasty who could teach children knowledge and enlighten their minds.

If more than half of these three million people are unwilling to teach, the Ming Dynasty will face a "teacher shortage" and the national policy goals will not be achieved.

The civil officials are embarrassing the emperor, and the literati are also embarrassing the emperor. The emperor's anger can be imagined.

"If you don't want to leave the mountain, then you don't have to leave the mountain." Zhu Houcong's voice was colder than his face. He said, "Pass the decree down. From now on, all the titles of Jinshi, Juren, Xiucai, and Tongsheng will be abolished!"

Hai Rui had never expected that the emperor's anger would be so overwhelming. He raised his head and said in panic, "Your Majesty, this may intensify the dissatisfaction of more scholars..."

"I don't care about their dissatisfaction!"

Zhu Houcong roared, "Who will take care of my dissatisfaction?"

Hai Rui was stunned on the spot. The mighty power of heaven was overwhelming him. He truly experienced the truth that "when the emperor is angry, millions of corpses will be buried and blood will flow like waves."

His Majesty has suspended the imperial examinations and cancelled all courtesies for scholars. Today, he has simply abolished the honors and titles, turning the more than three million scholars of the Ming Dynasty into common people, without any distinction at all.

This will shatter the last bit of pride in the hearts of the literati!
Zhu Houcong's face flushed red, and he said, "Millions of people are pointing at those words and articles, trying to embarrass me. I want to see if my Ming Dynasty will stop without those words and articles!"

Hai Rui knelt down, waiting for Lei Ting to get even angrier.

The words of His Majesty.

It is declaring war on the official script and regular script that have been passed down for thousands of years, and on the articles and classics of sages that have been used to educate people for thousands of years.

Zhu Houcong was silent at this time. The blush on his face slowly faded away, and he was thinking darkly.

Hai Rui couldn't help but secretly look at the Holy Face.

Zhu Houcong looked out the south window outside the Spiritual Gate, and through the window, at the gloomy sky, he said, "Hai Rui."

"Chen is here!"

"Pass on my decree, and have the Ministry of Rites preside over the simplification of the current complicated characters. The more common the characters, the simpler they should be. Beauty or not is not important. What is important is that they are easy to recognize, read and write. Ten strokes are the limit. All common characters should be under ten strokes. It would be best if phonetic symbols were added. I want my Ming Dynasty to have more than ten million more scholars immediately." Zhu Houcong said in a cold voice.

Hai Rui was stunned for a moment, then said, "I obey your order."

From ancient times to the present, Chinese characters have been constantly simplified. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the princes were divided and except for the large seal characters of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty, which were more standardized, there were certain differences between the characters of the other six countries. The vernacular characters were widely popular, and there were both simplified and complicated vernacular characters.

Small seal script was developed on the basis of large seal script. From oracle bone script, bronze inscription, large seal script to small seal script, the font gradually became dominated by line symbols and the shape of the characters gradually became fixed.

The Book of Jin records that "Since Qin used seal script, there were many things to report, and seal script was difficult to write, so the scribes (pen clerks) were ordered to help write, which was called official script... Official script is a shortcut to seal script."

Compared with the small seal script, it is a more convenient official script. The official script matured in the Han Dynasty and was also called "Zuoshu", which laid the foundation for the square characters.

After the official script, various fonts came into being, including regular script (also called true script or regular script), cursive script, and running script.

A large number of traditional characters have been simplified by adding shape or phonetic symbols, or by splitting the original same character into two, each expressing a clearer meaning.

Since there are still many characters with complex structures and many strokes after the change from Li to Kai, since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, some simpler vernacular characters have appeared among the commonly used regular script. Vernacular characters with fewer strokes than regular characters are generally called simplified characters.

Simplified Chinese characters have always existed in the Ming Dynasty, but they were not recognized by the imperial court. This imperial edict will be the first in history to grant simplified Chinese characters legal status.

As long as the characters are simplified, those who have read books will be able to understand more characters by analogy, the entry threshold will be lowered, and it is not impossible that tens of millions of readers will be added overnight.

"In the community schools, we will not teach ancient books such as the Four Books and the Five Classics. The Ministry of Rites will compile the annals of the dynasties and major events. From now on, our students will read history to understand reason!"

Zhu Houcong stared at the sky and said with gnashing teeth: "Let those scholars who cherish the memory of the late emperor go with the late emperor!"

(End of this chapter)