GBP Chapter 210 Zhu Yuanzhang: We want to share the world with the Chinese!
Chapter 210 Zhu Yuanzhang: We want to share the world with the Chinese!
Seeing that Empress Ma seemed to be calming down, Zhu Chongba quickly went over and grabbed her hand. After pulling her to sit down, he asked seriously, "Sister, do you know why we say the world is rotten because of those gentry?"
Empress Ma shook her head slightly, and Emperor Zhu sighed softly, saying, "Because we are surrounded by future gentry, and Biao'er will be surrounded by children from gentry families. They are the future gentry, and even if we want to avoid them, we can't."
"But think about it, are these gentry on the side of the common people?"
“They all claim to love the people like their own children, but what they're really thinking about is how to turn the people's land into their own.”
"What did Wen Yanbo, the prime minister during the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, say?"
"He governs the world with the scholar-officials, not with the common people."
Emperor Zhu Chongba sneered and said, "No, it won't work. If we share the world with the scholar-officials, I'm afraid that one day another Yuan dynasty will come. Those with backbone will follow our last generation of descendants to commit suicide, while those without backbone will kneel down to welcome the new ruler like those Confucian scholars."
"Therefore, we, Zhu Chongba, Zhu Yuanzhang, will not share the world with the scholar-officials, but with the common people! Only in this way can we ensure that no matter who comes after us, whether they are from the Yuan or the Fang dynasties, no one can take away the land and the state of our Great Ming!"
Empress Ma felt her mind in turmoil and hesitated before saying, "But, but..."
Emperor Zhu Chongba laughed again and said, "What is there to say 'but' or 'but'? We didn't have this opportunity before, and we couldn't truly share the world with the people. But now we see this opportunity. Tell me, shouldn't we seize it?"
"Don't worry, sister," Zhu Chongba patted Empress Ma's hand and said, "When we say to start over after a complete overhaul, we don't mean to let Tiande and Renbo lead troops to destroy the whole country. We mean to completely change the situation where the emperor and the scholar-officials share the country."
"Don't those scholar-officials think they're learned? Let's make all the people in the world learned. Don't those scholar-officials think they're powerful? Let the people of the world supervise them. The people can even bind up those cruel and corrupt officials who harm the people and come to us to file complaints."
The more Emperor Zhu spoke, the more excited he became. Finally, he laughed heartily twice and said, "As long as the people stand on our side, what are a few scholar-officials? We, Zhu Yuanzhang, are not afraid of them!"
"And then there's our good son-in-law. Does he think we don't know his tricks? We do! But he's good to the people, so we're willing to indulge him! If he wants to cause trouble, I, as the emperor, will personally go along with it. As long as he can improve the lives of the people, no matter how much trouble he causes Zhu Chongba, we're willing to let him do it!"
At this point, Emperor Zhu chuckled, first playfully reaching out to wipe Empress Ma's eyes, then looking at her and saying, "So, sister, you know what we mean by 'starting over after breaking it,' right?"
“When we told you to go to Dadu with Biao’er, we were actually thinking of taking precautions. But now we don’t need to,” Emperor Zhu picked up Magistrate Yang’s memorial from the table and waved it around. “Don’t let his lazy appearance fool you; he’s got one insidious and vicious idea after another.”
Emperor Zhu opened the memorial, pointed to the second line on the first page, and said, "Well, the world is bustling, all for profit; the world is bustling, all for profit. This is a sentence from the pre-Qin proverb 'Six Secret Teachings,' but who would have thought to use this sentence to cure the bad habits of those scholar-officials?"
“Li Shanchang is no good. He is resourceful and farsighted, but he is ultimately a traditional scholar and doesn’t have that many hidden agendas.”
"Liu Bowen won't work either. On the surface, Liu Bowen is loyal and devoted, but in reality, he has his own calculations. We need to use him, but we can't completely trust him."
"As for Hu Weiyong and Yang Xian, there is no need to say more. Hu Weiyong is bold and ambitious but also cunning and treacherous. He is not suitable to be in charge of the government alone, and he may become a great pest of the country in the long run. Yang Xian is even more arrogant and unworthy of great responsibility. If we expect them to fight against those scholar-officials, I am afraid that they will be instigated by those scholar-officials to fight against Zhu Yuanzhang."
"Only this bastard."
"We don't know why he, despite being a scholar and an official himself, seems to dislike scholars and officials. It's truly bizarre."
Hearing this, Empress Ma couldn't help but chuckle and said, "You, you, there are a total of eight hundred cunning people in our family. You, Biao'er, and your good son-in-law together account for a thousand. As for me, the second, third, fourth, and fifth sons, we owe you two hundred!"
Seeing that Empress Ma finally smiled, Emperor Zhu Chongba was relieved. He gently patted Empress Ma's hand and said, "Alright, you can rest for a while, or call Jin'er and Yu'er to talk. We still have some things to take care of."
Upon returning to the Qianqing Palace, the smile that had been on Emperor Zhu's face all the way quickly faded. Once he sat back on the dragon throne, Zhu Chongba transformed into the all-powerful Zhu Yuanzhang.
After summoning Lame Wu, Emperor Zhu immediately instructed, "Go back and tell him that we have received his memorial. However, the court is currently waging war against Qin and Jin, and Liao Yongzhong will not be able to return to the capital until after September. We will slowly begin to plan the methods he mentioned in his memorial, but they will not be implemented until September at the earliest. Let him be the county magistrate in a stable position for now, and let him take good care of the people of Ningyang County, especially in agriculture and sericulture. He must not slack off for a moment."
After a moment's thought, Emperor Zhu continued, "Also, we've agreed to his request for prisoners and ironworks, but we'll only give them to him after Xu Da takes Qin and Jin. Tell him not to rush."
……
At this point, Magistrate Yang no longer cared whether Emperor Zhu Chongba intended to resolve the issues between officials and gentry through a community of shared interests, or whether he intended to overturn the table and break ties directly.
As for Magistrate Yang, whether Emperor Zhu resolved the issue through a community of shared interests or by directly turning against him, these were not things that could be settled in a short time. Meanwhile, the winter wheat that the people had planted in the first year of Hongwu's reign was almost ready for harvest.
Fortunately, Ningyang County in the second year of the Hongwu reign was blessed with favorable weather, with neither drought nor flood, so the people should have had a good harvest.
This means that the entire Ningyang County will be busy harvesting wheat, and then they will have to plow and harrow the land, and plant crops such as autumn sorghum before the Grain in Ear season.
As a people-friendly official, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng naturally could not be absent from such important agricultural activities as wheat harvesting.