Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 193 Civil servants lower their posture

"Tell me, what are these officials thinking? Young Master Zhang has brought the little prince back from the old nest, but they still think that the emperor has been defeated!"

"What's even more ridiculous is that when the rumor reached the capital, the officials there actually believed it! Have you heard about what was published in the Ming Dynasty Monthly Current Affairs? It revealed that the officials in the capital really believed that the emperor had lost the battle and was captured alive, so they directly asked the current Lord Xu to find the empress dowager to establish a new emperor. But guess what, Lord Xu refused to believe it and directly used the imperial sword to kill a senior official who was trying to cause trouble! He stabilized the court and prevented the Ming Dynasty from having two emperors again."

"Then, the accurate news was reported to the capital, and the officials in the capital believed that the emperor had not lost the battle or been captured, and that he had captured the little prince alive. However, they were unwilling to publicize this matter, and insisted that they had only killed a few dozen Tartars. However, the emperor did not agree, and directly required each of them to write an article to publicize this matter, and to write more than 10,000 words every day. Writing 10,000 words, tut tut! I have studied for three years and know that writing with a pen is no easier than farming with a hoe. Not to mention 10,000 words, even 100 words can kill me."

"This is strange. Isn't it a good thing to capture the damn little prince alive? Why don't these officials want to publicize it? And from what you said, it seems that they don't want the emperor to win, and they even hope that the emperor will be captured alive."

Recently, due to the large-scale projects and factories in the capital, the number of people in the capital has increased, and the new population has now reached 300,000!

Most of these people were workers and craftsmen. Because the emperor issued an order to implement an eight-hour work system in the name of loving the people, if they continued to work, the factory would have to pay overtime subsidies.

But the industry in the Ming Dynasty is not yet developed enough, so most factories are not large and there is little need for overtime. Therefore, these people are usually bored after work and naturally discuss political affairs.

Zhu Houzhao asked the Second Secretariat to require all major government-run and royal factories to open night schools for workers, and asked the Ministry of Rites to order local governments to open literacy classes, so that more and more people began to learn to read and write, and even if they could not read, there were special newspaper readers.

In addition, Zhu Houzhao issued an edict to encourage official and private newspapers, which gave the people more channels to obtain information and they knew more and more things. Naturally, they became more and more fond of talking about state affairs after dinner.

A Ming Dynasty current affairs monthly magazine that recently appeared also made a special edition reporting on the recent reactions of civil officials to the capture of the little prince. The common people also learned about the incident and found it quite interesting. After all, they had no good feelings towards officials and really hoped for stories like this where the officials would be slapped in the face.

So, in a restaurant, several people started discussing this matter. One of the smarter people realized that the officials did not seem to be loyal to the emperor in their hearts, so he asked about it.

When the commoner asked this, the other person who was talking to him laughed and said, "It is said that all officials in the world are bad people. Even though they say they are loyal to the emperor every day, in fact, they are loyal to the money they can get. They are not even as loyal to the emperor as ordinary people like us."

"Be bold!"

He Mao had been enduring the scolding of the common people opposite him for a long time. He originally wanted to follow Zhang Zeduan's example and come to the streets to find inspiration for painting a winter picture of the capital, but he didn't expect to hear a group of people talking about political affairs here. Now, when he heard these people directly say that the civil servants were not as loyal to the emperor as they were, He Jingming naturally became very angry. Therefore, he slammed the table and angrily scolded this group of people.

These common people only dared to discuss it in private, and they did not have the awareness of being equal to officials and gentry. Therefore, seeing that He Mao was a Confucian scholar, they did not dare to get angry because he scolded them. They just timidly paid their bills and left.

He Maozheng was not an official who took advantage of his power to bully others, nor was he willing to argue with such common people. However, he was still very depressed because he found that apart from using his status and position to stop the people from talking, he was unable to refute what they said!
He Maozheng had to admit that many civil officials were indeed dissatisfied with His Majesty in their hearts, and they did not even want to have an emperor who focused on military achievements, but he also believed that most civil officials also valued the righteousness between the monarch and his subjects, and were all loyal subjects, such as himself. He even wanted to say that there were more than one loyal subjects in the world, but he did not know how to explain it to the people. He could not even lower himself to explain it to the people. He would instinctively use his status and position to stop these lowly people.

Looking at the couplet behind him that read "I am concerned about everything, family affairs, national affairs and world affairs", he felt even more annoyed, thinking that Your Majesty could use this couplet for scholars and officials, but why use it for the common people!

He Maozheng was not the only one who was depressed. Many civil servants were also quite depressed about this. They knew that what they had done was embarrassing and even stupid, but they did not want more people to know about it, or even to let future generations know about it. They felt that this would bring disgrace upon themselves.

Therefore, some civil servants once again petitioned the emperor to prohibit the people from discussing state affairs, and at the same time prohibit newspapers from disclosing court secrets at will.

This time, Zhu Houzhao simply played deaf and dumb, and ordered the cabinet to draft a reply to these civil servants on the grounds that it was more important to prevent the people from speaking than to prevent the river from flooding. There was no other way to prevent the people from discussing state affairs except to shut their mouths.

The civil servants were helpless, and some of them had to put aside their arrogance and explain themselves to the people through newspapers or speeches.

Although the common people were not so concerned about right and wrong in politics, they had a scale in their hearts. When some scholars and officials began to explain to them, they found that they seemed to have begun to gain a little respect from the officials.

Zhu Houzhao was also very satisfied with the willingness of some civil officials to explain to the people, especially when he knew that He Jingming personally funded the newspaper to convey his ideas of governing the country to the people. Although many of these civil officials' ideas of governing the country were wrong and did not conform to the interests of the people, and although many people were not used to caring about politics, the fact that these civil officials could lower their posture to express their ideas of governing the country to the people was itself a kind of progress.

After all, people of one class began to learn to respect people of another class under the emperor's deliberate protection and indulgence.

Moreover, Zhu Houzhao believed that although many of the people were illiterate, it did not mean that they were unaware of their own interests. If the civil servants could not give them the good policies they wanted, such as reducing taxes and surveying land, the people would not be easily brainwashed by these civil servants.

The literati and the common people are two opposing classes and it is impossible for them to unite. However, Zhu Houzhao hopes that people from both classes can understand that they are all citizens of the Ming Dynasty, all Chinese, and all equal and free.

Just because you are a scholar you cannot bully the common people without being punished, nor can you be unruly and disobey the rules just because you are a commoner.

If we cannot change the situation where the literati can enslave the people and betray the country at will without taking the responsibility of governing the people and strengthening the country, and if we cannot change the situation where the people only want to be peace dogs and do not know the dignity of being human, there will be no way for the Ming Empire to be completely transformed from a Confucian society, and there will be no way to compete in the future with a Western island country that has promulgated the Magna Carta for hundreds of years and the Western world that has entered the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery!
Zhu Houzhao wanted to be a great emperor, but he didn't want that after him, the land under his feet would still be a country in need of wise rulers and virtuous ministers.

From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, then to the Song Dynasty, and to the present Ming Dynasty, wise rulers and virtuous ministers have suppressed land annexation and maintained the stability of the small peasant economy to create a peaceful and prosperous era, while foolish rulers and treacherous ministers have increased the exploitation and enslavement of the people, leading to chaos and the extinction of China by foreign races. This cycle no longer needs to be repeated!

After all, if this continues, it will not only add to the family history of a dynasty, but also add hundreds of years of humiliation to a nation, and it will not be able to regain its former confidence even after a hundred years!

However, Zhu Houzhao knew that the literati would rather see obedient people who would not rebel but only know how to farm and pay taxes, and who were enslaved by them.

It was as if the emperor himself hoped to see obedient officials who would not contradict him, would do their work with peace of mind, and even be honest and self-disciplined.

But the reality is impossible.

It is human nature to have desires and pursue interests.

If the emperor wants China to break out of the vicious cycle of prosperity and decline after he comes to power, he must first create a driving force for China to improve its social mechanism. He must let people from all walks of life in the empire know that they are part of the empire. While the empire gains rights, it also has the obligation to make the empire increasingly powerful and prosperous. This requires people from every class to identify with the empire. In order for Chinese people from all walks of life to identify with the empire, the empire must have the obligation to protect every Chinese citizen, and it needs to form systems and laws to protect the interests and political needs of every Chinese citizen.

This system and laws are the key to the stability and even continuous growth of the empire.

But the person who was most likely to undermine the system and laws was precisely himself, the emperor, and Zhu Houzhao himself had to admit this.

However, Zhu Houzhao has not yet thought about limiting his royal power. First of all, fundamentally speaking, most people of this era do not want the royal power to be restricted. After all, when the royal power is extended to the clan, it becomes clan power.

If the ruling class of this era wanted to deny the royal power, they would have to deny their own family power.

This is also the reason why the civil officials could not overthrow Zhu Houzhao openly, because they could not demand democracy in the court while practicing dictatorship among the clan.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao promulgated the Imperial Constitution Outline whose main purpose was to safeguard the imperial power. From the beginning, he had never intended to let the Constitution Outline become directly like that of later generations. After all, that would easily arouse opposition from the ruling class all over the world. However, through the Constitution Outline, Zhu Houzhao at least made the officials' thinking begin to change from rule by man to rule by law, know their responsibilities and obligations, and begin to have some spirit of contract.

Thanks to my friend Huachen for the 100 starting coins reward. Thank you to my friend Xingxing de weiguang for the 100 starting coins reward. Thank you to my friend Xiaoxiaoxiaokeke for the 1000 starting coins reward.

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(End of this chapter)