I was compiling the daily records during the Wanli reign

Chapter 55: The New Three Are Not Enough! Foolish and Diligent Direct Ministers

The twenty-first day of the twelfth lunar month.

Capital.

The weather is getting colder and the New Year atmosphere is getting stronger.

Just when the officials were planning how to relax and have fun during the annual holiday, a memorial came from Fu Yingzhen, a classmate of Shen Nian and the Henan Provincial Examination Censor.

The whole court was blown up.

"I have heard that this year there have been no fewer than several thunderstorms, beasts' snouts, and earthquakes in the capital and the provinces... The Emperor has yet to offer a single word of repentance to appease the will of Heaven. He remains calm as if nothing has happened. Does he truly believe that natural disasters are nothing to fear?"

"The court sent eunuchs to Zhending Prefecture to arrest and detain people. This was not a national custom at the beginning of the country. It was first created during the Zhengtong period. This is a voluntary imitation of the court's immoral behavior. Do they really think that the ancestral system is not worth following?
"I have also recently heard that Zhu Dongguang, the Imperial Censor of the Ministry of Revenue, has made a statement advocating for the preservation of government. His remarks, though only a few, directly touch upon current affairs... almost provoke a wrathful attack. And since he is still in the imperial court, is it true that he does not care about what others say?"

……

Simply put, Fu Yingzhen talked about three things in his memorial.

First, there have been constant natural disasters this year, but the emperor's sincerity in respecting heaven and earth is not enough. He condemned the emperor: his heart of respecting heaven is not pure.

Secondly, the court sent eunuchs to Zhending Prefecture to collect taxes in order to test the law, but did not follow the previous emperor's practice of exempting land tax. He condemned the emperor for not following the virtuous policies of his ancestors.

Third, since the New Deal, the court has retained many memorials opposing the New Deal and severely punished censors. He condemned the emperor for not listening to advice and expelling loyal ministers.

Among them, he also pleaded for Yu Maoxue, the censor who was dismissed from office and demoted to a commoner for impeaching Zhang Juzheng last year, believing that the latter should be reinstated to restore the upright style of making suggestions and remonstrations in the court.

There were actually quite a few memorials like this that advised the emperor and questioned political decisions.

Most of them were retained.

But Fu Yingzhen's memorial was like a huge rock, causing a huge uproar in the court.

Because he was making some sarcasm.

When censors make suggestions, they always like to make indirect accusations, make veiled innuendos, and use sarcastic language.

Fu Yingzhen asked three rhetorical questions in his memorial.

They are: Is it true that natural disasters are not to be feared? Is it true that ancestral rules are not to be followed? Is it true that people's words are not to be taken seriously?

These three rhetorical questions.

This corresponds exactly to the "three shortcomings" described by conservative officials of the Northern Song Dynasty as the reformist leader Wang Anshi.

Fu Yingzhen compared the young Wanli to Song Shenzong and Zhang Juzheng to Wang Anshi.

The posthumous title of Shenzong is not a good one. The word "Shen" means that the emperor was incompetent in ruling and did nothing.

In the eyes of current officials, Wang Anshi was also a traitor who shook the foundation of the country and caused the Jingkang Incident in the Northern Song Dynasty.

There is a saying: It is easy for a censor to disobey the emperor, but it is difficult to offend an important person.

This important person was Zhang Juzheng.

Fu Yingzhen used sarcastic words to not only criticize the young Wanli for his immorality, but also satirized Zhang Juzheng for his misconduct and questioned the court's new policies.

How could the young Wanli and Zhang Juzheng bear it!
Because Fu Yingzhen was already in the capital.

When Shen Nian saw this memorial, Fu Yingzhen had already been sent to the Northern Pacification Prison.

among them.

There was a sentence in the reply from the young Wanli: Tell the Jinyiwei to send it to the Pacification Office and interrogate it thoroughly.

This statement may have been instructed by Zhang Juzheng, or it may have been made by the young Wanli and Feng Baoding.

But beating first and asking later was obviously an attempt to get Fu Yingzhen to admit his mistake immediately.

After Shen Nian knew about this.

The first reaction is helplessness, and the second reaction is that it serves you right.

He had some interactions with Fu Yingzhen, a man with decadent ideas, stubborn in his actions, and who enjoyed arguing.

Shen Nian was helpless.

This is because if such an official were to govern a region, it would definitely be a blessing for the people, because he cares about the people and can get things done. However, after submitting this memorial, the court will inevitably impose a heavy punishment, and the end of his career will be a loss to the Ming Dynasty.

Shen Niandao deserved it.

This is because there are too many officials like this.

They could not accept the destruction of the old and the establishment of the new, could not accept the violation of the laws of their ancestors, and could not accept Zhang Juzheng's dictatorship.

They are not bad, but stupid, diligent stupidity, which is the worst thing.

If we follow Fu Yingzhen's words.

If the young Wanli was afraid of natural disasters, he should have taken away Zhang Juzheng's power; if the young Wanli followed the ancestral system, he should have reduced taxes for the people; if the young Wanli was afraid of people's words, he should not have severely punished the censors for speaking out.

In his mind, no matter whether the Ming Dynasty prospers or declines, whether the new policies are good or bad, there must never be such powerful officials who destroy the ancestral system. He thinks too simply!

First of all.

If Zhang Juzheng's power were taken away, the Ming Dynasty would immediately fall into chaos.

Everyone thinks they can save the world, but when it comes to that, they will just blame the person in power and impeach him.

Second.

Reducing taxes for the people may seem like a benevolent policy that can win the hearts of the people, but it is not applicable at the moment.

The Kaocheng system was designed to compel officials to pay taxes, otherwise the imperial treasury would be short of money to support military expenses and officials' salaries.

If we do not vigorously reform the civil service system now, in the future it will not be that the people will be unable to pay taxes, but that they will have no land at all, as all their land will be taken over by the rich and powerful.

The correct way to enable the people to pay taxes is to crack down on those who annex land. However, if you want to succeed in doing so, you must first reform the civil service system, so the performance evaluation system cannot be relaxed.

At last.

He said that the censors were not guilty of speaking frankly and making suggestions.

Indeed, he should be found not guilty.

However, the corrupt ideas of the censors and their misleading statements about the new policies were the biggest obstacle to the court's implementation of the new policies, and this was inexplicable.

Only severe punishment can be imposed.

On that day, Fu Yingzhen was beaten to death by the Jinyiwei. If Zhang Juzheng had not ordered not to kill him, he might have died.

Fu Yingzhen was very stubborn and gritted his teeth, refusing to admit that he was suspected of forming a clique.

……

The next day, four more officials joined in.

Xu Zhenming, the Minister of Revenue, brought medicinal porridge to Fu Yingzhen.

Li Zhen, the censor of Guangdong Province, Qiao Yan, the censor of Shaanxi Province, and Zhao Yongxian, the reviewer of the Hanlin Academy, went to express their condolences to Fu Yingzhen.

at this time.

Isn't it asking for trouble to express condolences to officials who are against the emperor and the prime minister?
But these people are stubborn.

The Jinyiwei asked them why they visited the criminal.

Their reply was: Fu Yingzhen is a loyal minister. I know he is innocent, so I went to ask him without any other intention.

When young Wanli and Zhang Juzheng heard about this.

He immediately ordered the Jinyiwei to arrest these four people and put them in the imperial prison to investigate whether they were suspected of forming a clique.

After hearing this, Shen Nian sighed repeatedly.

Among the officials of the Ming Dynasty, there were some who were as cunning as foxes.

There are also those who, for the sake of so-called etiquette and ancestral rules, are willing to risk their lives and rush forward even though they know it is like a moth flying into a flame.

The latter is admirable, but at the moment, it is an effort in the wrong direction.

Shen Nian could understand Zhang Juzheng's suffering.

He worked diligently and conscientiously for the public day and night, shouldering the responsibility of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, yet he was still called a traitor.

Who can bear this!
Zhang Juzheng was actually very merciful in not beating him to death.

But these "stupid and hardworking" officials are also the indispensable grassroots force of the Ming Dynasty.

Shen Nian thought about it seriously.

This method of severely punishing censors was only a temporary solution and did not address the root cause. It only made the implementation of the new policy more difficult and made Zhang Juzheng make more and more enemies.

He decided to get involved and save these people.

Just when Shen Nian had not yet decided whether to submit a memorial to the emperor or go find Zhang Juzheng, he heard the court's punishment for Fu Yingzhen.

"Sent into exile for life at Dinghaiwei."

After Fu Yingzhen learned the result, he laughed heartily and said, "I have no life force, but my lord still wants me to live. He allows me to take up arms at sea. I will die of old age with no regrets!"

The literal meaning of this statement is: I originally thought it was a capital crime, but I didn't expect that the emperor would just let me guard the seaside. I have no regrets!
But the actual meaning is: I refuse to submit and I want to die!
When he said this, Shen Nian was definitely unable to save him. The key point was that this statement was likely to cause harm to the four people who came to visit him.

The principle upheld by Zhao Yongxian and the other three is "no crime in speaking out", and there is a possibility that they may be exempted from punishment.

Immediately, Shen Nian made a plan in his mind and ran quickly towards the cabinet.

　Note: The story of Henan Daoshi Fu Yingzhen submitting the new "three deficiencies" comes from "The Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong of Ming Dynasty". For some reason, it is not recorded in "The Diary of Emperor Wanli". However, with Shen Nian here, he should be able to fill it in. People in the parallel world in the future will definitely be able to see this incident in "The Diary of Emperor Wanli".

　　
　
(End of this chapter)