Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 265: Relentless and pursuing fame and fortune!

"Your humble servant...your humble servant..."

Sichuan Governor Tan Lun stumbled and could not continue.

When the emperor and the prime minister were fighting for his love, they overcame all objections and fought for the opportunity for him to display his talents.

However, the lax and indifferent attitude of the people in Sichuan regarding the case of forged memorials was closely related to him.

The emperor promoted him, but he did not show enough loyalty, which at least failed to live up to the emperor's expectations.

Now, the emperor has brought up the matter of mourning again, and Tan Lun should have immediately followed the emperor's words and returned to his hometown to complete the mourning period.

But he has no one to rely on in such a huge court. The former Prince Yu was exiled. As a member of the old party of princes who tried to rebel and force the emperor to abdicate, it is not easy for him to have his current status. Once he leaves the court and returns to his hometown, who will know who Tan Lun and Tan Zili are three years later?
He is still young and doesn't want to end his career.

Tan Lun was once strongly recommended by Zhang Juzheng, the chief minister of the cabinet. At this time, Zhang Juzheng should have stood up and said a few words for his old friend, but under the great authority of the emperor, he hesitated.

Hai Rui, the Minister of Rites who was also sitting at the table, was also thinking about whether to say a few words for Tan Lun. Tan Lun had indeed failed to live up to the emperor's grace, but after being appointed Governor of Sichuan, he suppressed bandits, pacified the people, cleaned up the bureaucracy, and opened up financial resources, and everyone in the province praised him.

By the same token, the emperor treated Tan Lun well, and he also treated Hai Rui well. If the emperor was determined to let Tan Lun leave the court, and Hai Rui spoke out at this moment and made the emperor embarrassed, then Hai Rui would have failed to live up to the emperor's grace.

The imperial court is not short of good officials, and there are more people who can be the governor of Sichuan than just Tan Lun. The emperor’s grace is above us, and we must repay it.

Hai Rui found it uncomfortable to sit and difficult to stand.

Zhu Houcong took in the expressions of the cabinet elders and the ministers of the six ministries and nine departments, and said with a smile, "Sit down, sit down."

Whether Tan Lun was willing or not, after the banquet ended and he returned to the inn, either for the sake of his filial piety or because he understood the hint, he had to submit a petition to return home.

Zhu Houcong would approve Tan Lun's memorial, but three years later, Tan Lun would be reinstated and entrusted with important tasks.

The next three years of wind and snow were a test for Tan Lun.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Tan Lun thanked him and sat down dejectedly. In an instant, he seemed to have lost all his energy.

Since he was ignored, Zhu Houcong did not look at him again. He looked down and called out, "Wu Shilai."

Henan Governor Wu Shilai jumped up from his chair and said, "I am here."

Lü Fang offered a golden cup of wine, and Wu Shilai took it. Before he could drink, he heard the holy voice, saying, "I have read the six ideas for amending the laws that you presented after entering the capital. They are very good."

The Ming Dynasty law stipulated that ordinary people were not allowed to keep slaves.

This is because the families of meritorious officials could receive slaves as rewards from the court, while ordinary people were required to work on their own and were not allowed to keep slaves.

Those who violated this law claimed to be hired workers. At first, it did not involve the families of officials. After all, it was inevitable for officials to keep slaves.

Therefore, Wu Shilai suggested that the three judicial departments should be ordered to discuss the matter at their discretion. Regardless of whether they are from an official family or an ordinary citizen's family, anyone who has signed a contract, paid wages, and worked for a certain number of years should be treated as an employee.

If the wages are meager and calculated on a daily basis, they will be treated as ordinary people.

If the slave purchased with money is under the age of fifteen and is raised for a long time, and then turns sixteen and gets married, she will be treated as a descendant.

If the period of support is not long and the person has not married, the ordinary family will still be treated as a hired worker.

The families of officials are treated according to the laws governing slaves.

After this law is implemented, it will legally eliminate the legality of officials and ordinary people keeping slaves privately, and no matter which way they do it, they will be held accountable.

The Ming Dynasty law stipulated that anyone who committed theft three times should be hanged, and tattooing could be used as evidence of the crime.

But the amount of stolen goods will affect the severity of the sentence.

Wu Shilai suggested that in the future, whenever encountering a theft case, if the three crimes were committed before or after the pardon, the perpetrator should be sentenced to death by hanging according to the law.

Or if the total number of crimes committed before and after pardon reaches three, a memorial can be submitted to the emperor for a decision.

The recording official should attach it to the memorial of doubt and questioning, and make the decision together with the sentence of exile.

This is equivalent to drawing a line for all people in the Ming Dynasty: they cannot break the law three times in their lifetime. If they break the law more than three times, they may be sentenced to death.

In the past, robbers robbed and killed people at will. The death penalty was imposed according to the amount of stolen goods and was executed immediately.

However, in order to prevent the fabrication of charges and the arbitrary arrest of people, Wu Shilai suggested that a detailed investigation must be conducted in the future. If the stolen goods and evidence are unclear and it is difficult to make an immediate decision, the person should be executed in the autumn.

The Ming Dynasty law stipulates that if accomplices jointly beat others, causing serious injury or death, the person who beats the person will be sentenced to death by hanging, and the other accomplices will bear their own responsibility.

If two or three people beat up one person together, causing serious injuries to each of them, it would be difficult to determine who did it and who was the mastermind or instigator. If someone dies in prison, the death will be used as the basis for conviction.

Now, some officials will give lenient sentences to people who beat others in prison when they encounter a situation where the person died of illness at home several years ago.

This is using people who died of illness to compensate for deaths from beatings, which is truly condoning and abusing the law.

Wu Shilai suggested that this kind of atonement should not be allowed in the future.

In the capital, the real criminals of rebellion and robbery would be executed from time to time even in the years when the execution was suspended.

But since he was so cruel as to kill his own father, even if he were immediately executed by slow slicing, I would still feel regretful.

However, in other places, such criminals are able to delay time because the cases should be reported separately and there is no precedent for reporting them individually.

Submitting a report individually means the situation is urgent, while submitting a report in categories means the situation is less serious.

If such cases are delayed for years in other places and the criminals die of illness in prison, how can the anger of both God and man be appeased?

Wu Shilai advised that in the future, whenever such cases occurred in other places, the censors would report them in detail to the Censorate, and the Censorate would report them separately. As soon as the emperor's reply arrived, the execution would be carried out immediately.

For criminals who have died, the prefecture, state or county will dismember their bodies. This is the only way to ensure that the punishment is carried out fairly.

Zhu Houcong even approved the amendments to the above five laws, and the sixth one... The Ming Dynasty law stipulates that anyone who forges the seals of various government offices should be beheaded.

Wu Shilai advised that anyone who privately cast copper or iron seals must be beheaded.

If it is only a seal with seal characters, but the material is not a seal, it cannot be called a forgery. The punishment should be changed to exile for copying the seal.

From now on, anyone who forges seals using materials such as wood, stone, mud, or wax will only be punished according to the regulations for tracing seals, and if he commits the same offense again, he will be beheaded.

If a seal is forged and used only once and the stolen goods are not sufficient to be sentenced to imprisonment, it can also be treated as theft.

If the offense is repeated, the person will be punished according to the regulations; if the offense is committed for the third time, the person will be punished according to the law.

It seems that this is just a relaxation of the laws.

However, in the case of forged memorials, the seal used in the name of Pan En, the Minister of Justice, was carved on wood or stone.

In other words, Wu Shilai wanted to give legal support to the case of forging memorials and exempt those who forged memorials from the crime. It is not known whether this was intentional or accidental, but the sixth law that Wu Shilai proposed to amend happened to be related to the case of forging memorials.

"Thank you, Saint..."

Before Wu Shilai finished his words of thanks, he heard Shengyin continue, "But I think that Article 6 does not need to be revised. Anyone who forges a seal, no matter what material it is made of, should be beheaded. This is the law of our ancestors."

Zhu Houcong looked at the Minister of Justice Pan En, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate Yan Jing, and the Minister of the Supreme Court Huang Qing, who were all seated. The three stood up almost at the same time and said, "I also believe that the laws of our ancestors cannot be changed!"

Wu Shilai, "..."

Those six laws are all ancestral laws. How come five of them can be changed, but the sixth cannot be changed?

Our ancestral laws are very flexible!
The situation was stronger than the person, and Wu Shilai could only stand there silently with his wine glass.

Zhu Houcong motioned for the three judicial officials to take a seat, then looked at Wu Shilai and asked, "I heard that your mansion has attracted many scholars and even opened a school. It is full of literary talent. You must have spent a lot of money, right?"

It has to be said that the influence of the Yan Party and the Qingliu still exists today, and Wu Shilai was also one of Xu Jie's disciples.

After Nie Bao's death and Xu Jie's disappearance, the students of Donglin Academy in Beijing were leaderless and chose to return home.

But when they arrived in Henan, Wu Shilai kept them all and gave them good resettlement.

The students of Donglin Academy were not ungrateful people. They set up a "Wu Gong Academy" for Wu Shilai and spent the whole day promoting Wu Shilai's name.

"Your Majesty, the guests and the academy cost thirty thousand taels of silver."

"Where does the silver come from?"

"Your Majesty, it was borrowed."

Zhu Houcong stood up from the throne, supported himself with one hand, and asked, "Who did you borrow it from?"

"A boss named Sun from Wantong Money House in Kaifeng City." Wu Shilai replied.

Zhu Houcong stared at him, as if puzzled, and said, "Even if you don't eat or drink, you will still have to pay back this debt for 20 years."

"Your Majesty, among my relatives, there are a few who have some assets, and they have already expressed their willingness to pay off my debts."

"is it?"

Zhu Houcong smiled and said, "It seems that you have a lot of ways and good relationships with relatives. You can take tens of thousands of taels of silver without hesitation, and you are not stingy at all."

Wu Shilai had sweated a lot without realizing it, and his throat was inevitably dry. He said, "Your humble servant..."

Throughout history, money has never been given for free. If you take other people's money, you have to do things for them.

Wu Shilai was not greedy or aggressive, but he did a lot of favors.

First there are people, then there are positions. This has been the traditional skill of imperial officials for thousands of years.

Zhu Houcong waved his hand and said with a smile: "Drink, drink."

After drinking the wine, Wu Shilai expressed his gratitude and sat down.

"Zhang Chong!"

"I'm here." Jiangxi Governor Zhang Chong stood up.

Lu Fang offered a golden cup of wine to Zhang Chong, who took it but did not drink it immediately, as he knew that the emperor still had something to say.

"I heard that a 'one meeting and one encounter' of our Ming Dynasty was held in the Ehu Academy in Shangrao, Jiangxi. How was it? Was anything discussed or negotiated?" Zhu Houcong's eyes fell on Zhang Chong.

Ehu Academy was first built during the Chunyou period of the Southern Song Dynasty. Emperor Lizong of Song named it "Wenzong Academy" and it was later destroyed in war.

During the Jingtai period of this dynasty, it was rebuilt on the original site and renamed "Ehu Academy".

Because of its "meetings and encounters", Ehu Academy is known as a cultural sanctuary of "the only debate of all ages".

The "first meeting" was the "Ehu Meeting" in the second year of Chunxi in the Southern Song Dynasty, when Zhu Xi, a Neo-Confucian philosopher of the Southern Song Dynasty, and Lu Jiuyuan and Lu Jiuling, the leaders of the School of Mind, gathered at Ehu Academy at the invitation of Lu Zuqian, a representative figure of the Zhejiang East School.

The "meeting" was in the 15th year of Chunxi, when Xin Qiji and Chen Liang "sang songs to each other and discussed worldly affairs" for ten days, discussing the grand plan of resisting the Jin army and restoring the country. This was called the "Meeting at Ehu Lake".

As the imperial court cracked down on Confucianism, Neo-Confucianism, and the School of Mind, the group of scholars' base in Jiangnan gradually began to waver. They continued to look for a new place to stay, and so they came to Jiangxi.

Due to its remarkable reputation, Ehu Academy was hailed as a cultural sanctuary by scholars in the south of the Yangtze River. With the support of Zhang Chong, the governor of Jiangxi Province, the literati sang to their heart's content, drank and criticized current affairs in the academy, having a great time.

Of course, the poems of literati and scholars also include praises of Zhang Chong, the "enlightened governor."

It is worth mentioning that Zhang Chong was also a disciple of Xu Jie, and he was best friends with his fellow student Wu Shilai.

"Your Majesty, there have been countless sages in ancient times, but in the five thousand years of Chinese history, there have only been two sages. Apart from Confucius in ancient times, there is only Mr. Yangming of our Ming Dynasty. It is a blessing for our Ming Dynasty to have a sage in one day. The Ehu meeting is only an extension of the sage's knowledge. Although there are new ideas, there is no new learning."

Zhang Chong suddenly felt the pressure, and he chose his words carefully: "At the meeting at Ehu Lake, the students continued to explore the pros and cons of national policies and new policies, aiming to make up for the shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty and the emperor. However, the emperor's wisdom is like the ocean, which is beyond the reach of ordinary people, so naturally they could not discuss anything."

Can talk.

Criticizing current affairs is described as a way to seek progress.

Zhu Houcong smiled and nodded, not caring about it, and said: "I heard that you are responsible for all the expenses of this "meeting". Did you also borrow money?"

Intellectuals are the most indifferent.

If you want to hear these people's praises, you must come up with something practical. For "one meeting after another", thousands of scholars stayed in Ehu Academy for a whole month, and all their food, drink and entertainment were paid for by Zhang Chong, the governor.

"Your Majesty, thanks to the blessings of my ancestors, my family is relatively well-off and I can still come up with this little money. There is no need to borrow it," Zhang Chong replied.

Zhu Houcong looked at him and said, "This is strange. Rich people don't say they are rich, especially officials. They are most afraid of others saying they are rich. But you are the one bragging about it."

"I understand this principle, but since His Majesty has asked me personally, I have no choice but to tell you the truth. Otherwise, I would be deceiving the Lord." Zhang Chong felt cold sweat on his back, and his clothes were wet and stuck to his back.

Zhang Chong is one of the "Eight Sages of Liuzhou" and he has always attached great importance to cultivating reputation. But what is the purpose of cultivating reputation?

They would write inscriptions and calligraphy for others, and then collect "writing fees". Zhang Chong's ancestors had been doing this for generations, and that was how the Zhang family became wealthy.

"One meeting and one encounter" is a grand event, with all kinds of literati present. Some businessmen with keen business sense will inevitably participate in it, asking people to write plaques for them and seek fame from them.

And Zhang Chong, the only organizer, was a person that no one could avoid. During the meetings, Zhang Chong wrote thousands of plaques, poems and articles.

The money he spent was recovered early with interest. With such a mind, he should not be an official but go into business.

"Yuan Hongyu."

(End of this chapter)