Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 115: The King of Kings is in chaos and wants to slaughter the people

"Yang Xindu!"

at that time.

Some court officials who were kneeling at the palace gate could not help but shout at Yang Tinghe.

Some court officials who supported rituals even questioned Yang Tinghe directly:

"Mr. Yang, why are you trying to deceive the emperor?!"

"Everyone in the world hopes that Your Majesty will be benevolent, forgive the Kong family's sins, drive away the enemy cavalry, and restore the rule of the Xiao Temple. Why is it that severely punishing the Kong family is venting the people's grievances?!"

The court officials who supported rituals were indeed very disappointed, and they kept questioning Yang Tinghe.

Yang Tinghe did not answer.

Zhu Houcong just laughed in his heart.

He knew why Yang Tinghe had such an attitude at this time.

At this time, Zhu Houcong also adopted Yang Tinghe's proposal and asked Qin Wen to announce the imperial decree to the ministers who were hiding in the palace, and once again asked them to leave, otherwise they would be severely punished according to the report of the Taifu.

But once the arrow is shot, it is hard to retrieve it.

He Mengchun and others knew that if they did this now and failed to force the emperor to compromise, it would mean that their action of using the power of the scholars to fight against the imperial power would be a complete failure.

There won't even be room for relaxation.

After all, what they did must have made the emperor disgusted with them.

If they could no longer force the emperor to compromise, their political future would be ruined.

Therefore, He Mengchun and other court officials who protected rituals still chose to kneel.

"We will not retreat until we receive your Majesty's order!"

He Mengchun and other court officials who protected rituals continued to kneel before the palace.

Zhu Houcong asked Yang Tinghe: "Taifu, what do you think?"

"His Majesty!"

"There's really a lot of public outcry out there!"

"I am afraid that if we delay any further, a civil uprising will suddenly break out!"

Yang Tinghe kowtowed again, deliberately appearing particularly anxious.

And then.

He said to Zhu Houcong: "Your Majesty, please move to the Daming Gate for a look!"

The court officials who supported rituals were also very confused?
Public dissatisfaction boiling?
Scholars are the leaders of the four classes of people.

Don’t these scholars and officials represent the public opinion?
So if we want to avoid civil unrest, shouldn't we immediately ask His Majesty to agree to the demands of these people?
Why does Yang Tinghe want Your Majesty to take the heads of the evil disciples of the Confucius Mansion to vent the people's grievances?
At this time.

Eunuch Zhang Jin also came to report: "Your Majesty, many people are indeed kneeling outside, demanding the rescue of Confucius, the overthrow of the Confucius family, and listing the crimes of the Confucius Mansion. There are no less than 100,000 people, almost surrounding the entire imperial city!"

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong couldn't help but stand up and asked in surprise:
"How could so many people come to kneel down and make a petition?"

Zhu Houcong was pretending to be surprised, but He Mengchun and others were truly surprised.

And at this time.

Only then did they understand why Yang Tinghe was so anxious to urge the emperor to kill Confucius and take the heads of Confucius' children to vent the people's anger?

It turns out that many people are also kneeling in front of the palace to make their protests.

Damn troublemakers!
Why do you want to learn from us?

The court officials of the ritual protection faction who knelt down to make remonstration were all a little confused at this time.

"Move to Daming Gate!"

"All ministers, come with me to observe public opinion!"

Zhu Houcong immediately issued a new decree and no longer paid any attention to the ministers of the ritual-protecting faction who were kneeling in front of the palace to make their protests.

then.

Zhu Houcong then rode the imperial chariot towards the Daming Gate.

The court officials who discussed rituals but had not yet bowed in front of the palace, including Grand Tutor Yang Tinghe and Prime Minister Liang Chu, as well as eunuchs like Qin Wen and Jinyiwei like Zhang Tong, all followed him to the Daming Gate.

As a result, some court officials who had originally followed the crowd to kneel down in front of the palace because they were afraid that the Tartars would really come south because of the killing of the Northern Sect Confucius, but who actually did not care so much about the ceremony, also stood up and limped towards the Daming Gate after hearing that no less than 100,000 people had also come to kneel down in front of the palace to protest.

This way.

At Zuo Shunmen, the only ones left were the court officials of the ritual protection faction who sincerely wanted the emperor to forgive the Kong family and revise the rituals.

These court officials who supported rituals suddenly felt embarrassed.

But not for long.

They all followed to Daming Gate.

Let’s talk.

When Zhu Houcong, the eunuchs, court officials and the Embroidered Uniform Guards arrived at the Daming Gate, they saw that the outside of the Daming Gate was indeed filled with people kneeling.

These people all shouted slogans such as "Down with the Confucius Shop, rescue Confucius."

Some people even held banners with signatures of ten thousand characters, which read things like "Support the holy monarch, severely punish the thief Confucius".

Even though Yang Tinghe had seen this scene before, he was still a little frightened.

Because the momentum of the gathered people is so terrifying!

at this point.

These people were like a flood about to overwhelm the imperial city, making it impossible for the ruling class in the imperial city to ignore their threat.

The court officials of the ritual protection faction who had been kneeling in front of the palace to make their protests today were also shocked by this scene.

Some ritualist bureaucrats who were timid or not very reactionary towards the people also began to waver in their will at this time.

There were also some court officials of the ritual-protecting faction who had never really taken public opinion seriously and only used it as a tool to deal with the imperial power and strengthen the power of the scholars. They could not help but mutter to themselves about this.

"How could this happen?" "How can the common people also come to speak up?"

of course.

There were also many court officials of the ritualist faction who were particularly reactionary towards the people and stubborn in protecting the rights and interests of scholars. At this time, their defenses were completely broken, and they cursed the people even more fiercely in their hearts.

"Thieves!"

"They are all bandits who deserve to be killed along with their entire clans!"

"Instead of working hard at home, you come to give advice. This is simply disrespectful and like a mantis trying to stop a chariot!"

"If I were a wise king, I would not listen to these villains!"

"It has never been reasonable for ordinary people to discuss politics. Otherwise, the hierarchy will be in chaos and the ethics will be destroyed!"

Zhu Houcong glanced at these court officials who all had different expressions on their faces and just smiled faintly.

And then.

He looked again at the court officials, eunuchs and the Embroidered Uniform Guards who had come with him to discuss rituals.

originally.

It is just based on different understandings of traditional ethics.

Believe that etiquette should return to the original meaning of sages.

Everything should be done with the interests of the country and the people in mind, and the emperor should not be allowed to sacrifice filial piety and follow public opinion.

Just because there are many scholars and powerful officials in the world, it does not mean that deceiving the emperor and violating rituals is a matter of justice, and it does not mean that the rituals and laws only benefit the increase of scholars' power but are detrimental to the country and the people.

I originally felt that I would be very lonely among all the powerful forces in the court.

But now they have discovered.

They are not so alone, the people are in agreement with them, but they have ignored this force.

of course.

After this power appeared, they also felt complicated.

They also don’t know whether it is a good thing for the people to get involved, or whether it is a violation of etiquette.

After all, in this era of governing the country by rites, there is no idea that "every man is responsible for the rise and fall of the country."

Most of the scholars and officials felt that the "rise and fall of the country" was about maintaining the moral order of ethics and had nothing to do with the people.

But what they can be sure of now is that, whether they welcome the people to participate in politics or not, they should no longer have the idea that "scholar power" can override "imperial power".

Because once this happens, the emperor will inevitably win over the people to fight against the literati.

"The king is governed by the will of heaven" must be changed to "The king is governed by the will of the people".

This is definitely not a good thing for the literati who want to be above the common people, and will make their situation worse.

Instead, the "imperial power" will expand further, and the killing of scholars and officials will become even more unscrupulous.

After all, if "the king is appointed by heaven", killing scholars and officials would cause some concerns as to whether it was against the will of heaven, or killing the "Wenquxing" who was sent down from heaven.

But if "the king is governed by the people's will", then killing scholars and officials would be a cause for no psychological burden, and would simply be full of justice, as people would say they were being killed for the people!
The Cabinet Chief Liang Chu felt a shudder when he thought of this, and looked at Zhu Houcong with a complicated expression.

He had already guessed that the appearance of so many people in front of him must be the masterpiece of His Majesty. Only such a gifted and heroic ruler could think of such a strategy.

Because this emperor did this when he came to Beijing!

Bringing more than 200,000 gangsters into Beijing forced Yang Tinghe to retreat on the grounds of illness and gave up the idea of ​​retiring.

However, he originally thought that the emperor did this just by chance, and that he did so because he inevitably encountered many refugees on his way to the capital.

But he now felt that His Majesty's actions were not accidental, but were truly wise and had a deeper understanding of the people of the world. He was no longer someone that Confucian officials like him could influence by relying on Confucian classics.

At this time, the eunuchs and the Embroidered Uniform Guards, because they found that so many people were also kneeling to protest, no longer had any filter for the court officials who initially knelt to protest. They no longer wondered whether they were so fearless of death and were really doing it for the sake of the country and the people. They only found that these people's ideas were inconsistent with the real public grievances, and it turned out that their own emperor was indeed the wisest and understood the people's hearts best.

After all, they are human beings, not tools, and it is inevitable that they will have their own thoughts and ideas.

And now, this situation made them respect their master Zhu Houcong even more.

"The people's will is in agreement with mine."

Zhu Houcong also said with a smile at this time.

"deliver an imperial order!"

"According to what the Grand Tutor said, we should take the heads of several of the Kong family elders who have committed many crimes and show them to the public to inform the people that the imperial court has executed the thieves in the Kong family and let them return home. Next, they must abide by the law and be polite, be diligent in production, do more preparations for war in their spare time, work together with the imperial court, and be prepared to fight against the invaders!"

"I believe that as long as all the people are united, no matter how powerful the bandits are, they will not be able to intimidate our Ming Dynasty. Instead, they will be the only ones who are afraid."

Zhu Houcong spoke very passionately.

Qin Wen, the eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, cupped his hands and was about to say yes, when Zhang Zan, the Chief Censor who had followed him to the Meridian Gate, suddenly came over and knelt in front of Zhu Houcong:

"Your Majesty! The affairs of the world are not something that common people can interfere with. Otherwise, they will be considered as unruly people who disrupt the social order and should be punished! I ask Your Majesty not to be frightened by these unruly people. You should enforce strict laws, protect social order, dispatch the Jinyiwei to drive them away, and treat those who resist as traitors and kill them without mercy!"

"Your Majesty, I second the proposal!"

"There has never been a reason for the common people to kneel down and remonstrate with the emperor!"

"This is treasonous and we cannot set this precedent!"

Xu Li, a doctor from the Ministry of Rites, followed up.

Many court officials who supported rituals knelt down again and demanded that Zhu Houcong suppress the people directly with force.

"Your Majesty! The Emperor governs the world with the scholars and officials, not with the people!"

"Otherwise, it would be a violation of etiquette and rebellion, and you should be killed!"

A courtier shouted loudly.

The meaning of these civil servants was very clear, that is, the literati and officials could force the emperor to abdicate, but the common people could not.

Seeing this, Zhu Houcong asked in a deep voice: "Do you want me to be a tyrant who slaughters people?!"

(End of this chapter)