Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

"Teacher, when governing a country, one should be close to virtuous officials and stay away from villains. A ruler who gets angry at his officials easily is a tyrannical ruler."

Zhu Cilang was obviously not convinced. Although he was only ten years old, he not only spoke in a pedantic way, but also made innuendos.

Be close to virtuous ministers and stay away from villains. In his little head, he has preconceived ideas that those who accompany him all day and teach him the teachings of sages must be virtuous ministers.

And this fellow in front of him, who speaks in a vulgar way and even makes up poems, can get such a high position. It is natural that he is a villain.

As soon as Zhu Cilang finished speaking and Zhang Shikang hadn't yet refuted, Emperor Chongzhen's face immediately darkened.

"Hmph, you have high expectations but low skills. It seems like you should find some new teachers."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cilang immediately lowered his head. From ancient times to the present, a ten-year-old child did not have the confidence to refute his father, not to mention that his father was the current emperor.

However, Zhang Shikang disagreed with Chongzhen's coercive education method, so he changed his words:

"Your Highness the Crown Prince is right about being close to wise ministers and staying away from villains.

But...what is a good minister and what is a villain?

A villain will not write the word "villain" on his forehead, and those who say a few words about loyalty to the emperor and patriotism are not really loyal to the emperor and patriotic.

If what you gentlemen said is true, the court before could be said to be full of upright people, but why were the rats starving when the treasury was empty?

Why do people in the world rebel when they can't even get enough food?

If this were true, and a country could be governed well, then how could our Ming Dynasty be in the state of internal and external troubles today?

Don’t you think so, Your Majesty?”

After Zhang Shikang finished speaking, he looked at Brother Chongzhen. Emperor Chongzhen frowned, thinking that this guy was pointing at the monk and calling him a bald thief.

Now, whenever he heard the word "Zhong Zhengying Chao", he would feel nauseous and disgusted.

But considering that Zhang Shikang was helping him educate his son, Emperor Chongzhen reluctantly and perfunctorily nodded.

Zhu Cilang remained silent upon hearing this. After all, he was only ten years old, and what he heard and learned were all what those civil officials wanted him to know.

Once you meet a troublemaker like Zhang Shikang, who has unique ideas, goes straight to the core of the problem and does not play by the rules, you immediately don't know how to refute him.

Zhang Shikang felt that the blow was not enough, and after thinking for a while he said:

"I have already asked the Royal Guards to investigate those gentlemen of your Highness. Do you know how much wealth they have?"

Zhu Cilang became puzzled and didn't understand why Zhang Shikang suddenly brought up this. As the sages said, money is all copper.

His teachers were all saints, so how could they be interested in money-making things? Even though he thought so, he still pretended to listen attentively.

"Of course you don't know, but I do.

Among your five gentlemen, the highest official rank is only the third rank, but the total value of their assets is nearly 500,000 taels.

This does not include real estate such as shops and fields that they directly or indirectly control.

But do you know how much silver our Ming Dynasty's treasury had half a year ago?"

After that, Zhang Shikang turned around and asked Brother Chongzhen:

"Your Majesty, how much silver did we have in our treasury half a year ago?"

"More than 200,000 taels." Emperor Chongzhen said in a muffled voice.

"Look, the wealth of these five middle-aged officials actually exceeds the treasury of the great Ming Dynasty by more than double.

What does this mean? "

"This is impossible..." Zhu Cilang was shocked, his eyes widened.

His gentlemen were elegant and easy-going. They always told him that as a monarch, he should be compassionate to the people, be diligent and frugal, etc.

He would always cite himself as an example, saying how frugal they were and how sad they were to see people not having enough food to eat.

Now Zhang Shikang said that the assets of his gentlemen were twice as much as the national treasury. How could he believe it?

But his father was right next to him, and Zhu Cilang felt that no matter what, this playboy would not dare to lie to him in front of his father.

But...is this really the case?

"Haha. Your Highness, would you like me to bring the investigation files over?" Zhang Shikang said with a smile.

"What are you taking? You little brat, what do you know?

I will suspend those people's posts after the new year!" Emperor Chongzhen took a sip of wine and said with a slightly unhappy look.

"Hey, if you don't want to take it, then don't take it. Why should Your Majesty be angry?" Zhang Shikang picked up the wine pot and filled it up for Brother Chongzhen.

He probably knew why his brother was depressed, and the examples he cited to enlighten Zhu Cilang were like rubbing salt into brother Chongzhen's wounds.

But there is no way, often only the bloody reality is more convincing.

"Before this, your father had initiated a fundraising campaign among the court officials, and all the civil and military officials cried poor. This happened two years ago, you should know about this.

All the civil and military officials in the court tried to cry poor and act pitiful, but in the end they only raised a few hundred thousand taels of silver.

Your gentlemen wore patched court robes every day when they went to court. The five of them pledged less than one thousand taels, which is nothing compared to their family property.

Your Highness, please taste it carefully. "

These people are not frugal, but they ask you to be frugal. These people regard money as their parents, but they ask you to treat it as copper.

They demand of you the same things as saints, but they themselves look down on the saints.

Be lenient in disciplining yourself and be strict in disciplining others.

To sum it up in one sentence, it's shameless.

Zhu Cilang was silent. The little outlook on life that he had just formed under the instruction of the five so-called great scholars was shattered by Zhang Shikang in less than half an hour.

"The court is full of wicked people, and your gentlemen are even more treacherous. Listen to my advice and don't easily believe their lies.

One thing on the surface, another behind the scenes, all for money."

Zhu Cilang's eyes became blank, and suddenly they no longer had the same lively look as before.

"I think my words have touched your soul."

Zhang Shikang felt that his efforts were not in vain. As long as he planted this doubt deep in Zhu Cilang's soul, this seed would always take root and sprout when he met those people in the future.

Zhu Cilang was silent for a moment, clasped his hands, bowed solemnly to Zhang Shikang, and performed the salute as a disciple.

"Okay, okay, sit down and eat." Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand.

Although Zhang Shikang's words were always unpleasant to the ear, he had been deceived by court officials for more than ten years and did not want his son to be deceived at all.

He himself was busy with state affairs and had never paid much attention to educating his son. Now that Zhang Shikang was teaching him, and looking at his son's expression, it seemed that he had become enlightened.

This is a good thing. The dissatisfaction that Emperor Chongzhen had just felt disappeared. He turned to Wang Chengen and said:

"Wang Daban, tell someone to set off the fireworks."

Wang Chengen agreed with a smile. Half a quarter of an hour later, bunches of fireworks bloomed in the night sky outside the Qianqing Palace.

Women all like to watch fireworks. Empress Zhou, Empress Yi'an, and all the concubines went out to watch with smiles on their faces.

In addition to women, children also had no resistance to fireworks. The boys were the youngest, but they ran in the front.

Nine-year-old Princess Kunyi followed closely behind with her six-year-old sister.

Emperor Chongzhen drank a cup with Zhang Zhiji and his son, and then walked out one after another.

Looking at the fireworks all over the sky, Emperor Chongzhen's eyes were full of longing for the next year.

"It's the New Year, I hope everything goes well in the coming year."

"Yes, after today, I will be twenty years old."

……