Lao Zhu didn't understand Han Du's explanation. He looked at Han Du with cold eyes and said in a deep voice: "How dare an ordinary scholar go against me? If no one instructs him, how would an ordinary scholar behave like this? courage?"
Han Du glanced at Zhan Hui, who had a calm look on his face, nodded and said, "It's certain that someone instigated him, but it's probably not from those five families."
"What do you mean?" Lao Zhu frowned and his face darkened. According to Han Du, doesn't it mean that there is a force hidden within the Ming Dynasty that dares to oppose him as the emperor? But he hadn't noticed it yet. The horror in it made Lao Zhu instantly feel a chill covering his whole body, and his face was so gloomy that he was about to drip with water.
Han Du's words made Zhan Hui feel tense, but then he relaxed. He thought Han Du just wanted to deceive him. Although they have some contact, it is not considered a party for personal gain at all. Even their private meetings were for various valid reasons and were very secretive, making it almost impossible for anyone to detect them.
Han Du had been staring at Zhan Hui's eyes. Although his expression did not change at all, the drastic change in the look in his eyes occurred for a short time, but Han Du could clearly see it.
Han Du suddenly knew something in his heart and knew that his guess was correct. Zhan Hui was a member of the civil service group.
"Does your Majesty still remember what happened in the former Song Dynasty?"
Lao Zhu raised his eyebrows and asked, "What happened in the former Song Dynasty?" After all, there were so many things in the former Song Dynasty, and Lao Zhu didn't know what Han Du wanted to say.
"Your Majesty, do you know why the former Song Dynasty said that emperors and scholar-bureaucrats share the same world?" Han Du looked at Zhan Hui with a smile.
Zhan Hui's heart suddenly moved, and an unpleasant thought came to his mind, which made him feel cold all over. Since he dared to rebel against the emperor, he had long been aware of death, but even so, his mood at the moment became turbulent.
Lao Zhu lowered his eyes and looked at Han Du in confusion. Lao Zhu had heard this sentence countless times, but he just didn't know where it came from. He was an emperor himself, so he naturally knew the taste of imperial power. Like the former Song emperor, who proactively distributed imperial power to his ministers, this was the only weird dynasty in history.
Are all the former Song emperors saints? Bullshit!
It would be great if only one saint appeared, but how could there be so many at once? Lao Zhu would not believe such words. Moreover, until the end of the Song Dynasty, even the country and the country were not saved, and the entire China was destroyed and allowed to be ravaged by the Tartars.
As the emperor who expelled the Tartars and rebuilt China, Lao Zhu despised the former Song Dynasty the most. Thinking that they are too useless, they will give up this land of China to others.
Originally, Lao Zhu's achievements in rebuilding China were enough to go to Mount Tai to be enshrined in Zen and report his achievements to God. But why didn't Lao Zhu go? Even Lao Zhu didn't even mention the matter of Feng Chan in these decades?
It was because the previous person who went to Mount Tai to Feng Chan was from the Zong Zhen Sect, which simply lowered Feng Chan's qualifications infinitely. Not to mention that the entire Song Dynasty had not completely unified the world. Song Zhenzong was the one who signed the Tanyuan Alliance. He went to Mount Tai to enshrine Zen in the condition of paying a tribute of 300,000 yuan every year.
If Song Zhenzong hadn't done this, Lao Zhu would have gone to Mount Tai to be enshrined long ago. Even if the imperial treasury was not rich enough in the early years of Hongwu, and now Lao Zhu's inner treasury is almost full, he should still go.
But just because Song Zhenzong went to Feng Chan, Lao Zhu really couldn't bear to be compared with such a thing, and he didn't bother to mention Feng Chan's affairs.
It can be seen how much Lao Zhu looked down on the former Song Dynasty, and now he naturally looks dismissive when hearing Han Du mention it.
When Han Du saw it, he smiled and said: "The emperor shared the world with the scholar-bureaucrats instead of the common people. He gave the civil servants too much power. It was a prosperous age for the civil servants at that time."
Zhan Hui stared at Han Du with his eyes fixed on him, showing no intention of letting down his guard because he said good things about civil servants. Because he knows that whenever he speaks, he must first raise his voice and then suppress it.
Sure enough, Han Du then changed his tone: "But at the same time, the civil servants also emptied the emperor's power. The power of the former Song emperor was all in the hands of the civil servants. If we don't say that the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats share the world, what can we say?"
Lao Zhu's face was gloomy, and he gritted his teeth and said: "I said that the Ming Dynasty is to share the world with the people, scholar-bureaucrats? Humph! If they obey, I will give them an official position, if they don't obey...kill them!" "
Such murderous words not only failed to intimidate Zhan Hui, but instead made him struggle fiercely regardless of the pain. He scolded Lao Zhu angrily: "You are a fool, you are a fool who listens to slander. What can the people give you? It's just taxes, and only the scholar-officials can really help you govern the world. If you don't value the scholar-officials but the people, you will regret it. You I will regret it..."
"Bastard!" Lao Zhu was furious, his eyes like spitting fire.
Han Du quickly stepped forward to comfort him, "The emperor does not need to be as knowledgeable as him. He is just short-sighted and self-righteous."
Lao Zhu's anger calmed down a little.
Han Du raised his eyes and looked at Zhan Hui. Seeing him glaring at him, he curled his lips and said, "What? Are you not convinced?"
Zhan Hui glared at Han Du fiercely, as if he wanted to rush up and bite Han Du, "Treacherous traitor, the emperor will be so stupid only if there is a traitor like you by his side."
"The emperor is a wise emperor through the ages, how can he be stupid?" Han Du said with a serious face: "Or in your eyes, only those puppet emperors of your civil servants in the former Song Dynasty are wise emperors?"
"If you think so, then I will have to talk to you." Han Du said in a deep voice when he saw Zhan Hui staring at him with resentment on his face.
After a pause, Han Du solemnly said: "The emperor expelled the Tartars and rebuilt China, and he unified the world better than the Qin Emperor. But the Mingjun you call him is just a corner of the world from beginning to end. He can't even achieve great unification. What qualifications are there to compare with the Emperor?"
"Not only that, the emperor opened up Liaodong, swept across the grasslands, destroyed the Yuan Dynasty, and forced the grassland people to go to Mobei. This achievement is no worse than that of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty who attacked the Xiongnu in the north, right? And the Mingjun you call him was killed by the grassland People were beaten until they knelt down and begged for mercy, and even the emperor was captured and taken to the grassland as a slave."
Han Du's words were like a steel drill, stabbing into Zhan Hui's lung tube. He was so angry that his veins bulged, and he struggled and shouted regardless of the pain: "Shut up, shut up!"
Han Du shook his head and looked at Zhan Hui with disdain: "Incompetent and furious, I think those people who were taken to the grassland back then must be the same as you are now when facing the grassland people."
Ignoring Zhan Hui's fierce eyes, Han Du continued: "Since the founding of the country, the emperor has worked hard and worked hard to govern, and he has been working hard to this day, expanding Annan to the south, encompassing Nanyang, and east of the capital.
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Thirty thousand miles away is the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Who can compare with this achievement throughout the ages? Those wise kings you speak of have been ceding land and paying indemnities since the first day of the founding of the country. How do they have the right to be ranked alongside the emperor? "
Although Zhan Hui was very angry with Han Du, he had to admit that what he said was the truth. Today's Ming Dynasty is the most powerful and prosperous one in history.
Just taking the whole of Nanyang into one's pocket would open up thousands of miles of territory for the Ming Dynasty, and what about continents? Now there are just not enough people to develop the continent. If one day the Ming Dynasty has people to develop the continent, its territory will be more than doubled.
"There will be peace in the world. Isn't it because the civil servants have good governance that we can have such a prosperous age?"
"Haha, civil servants govern well?" Han Du scoffed unceremoniously and shook his head: "What you call civil servants govern well is just playing word games with illiterate people? Does it mean corruption is rampant? When it comes to expanding territories, Do you have any energy to go abroad?
It’s not that I look down on you, but even a dog outside the county government office will be better than you selfish civil servants! "
"You! You...poof~" Zhan Hui was so excited by Han Du's words that he spat out a mouthful of bright red blood.
Seeing this scene in front of him, Lao Zhu looked at Han Du in surprise. He didn't expect that Han Du's words were so sharp that Zhan Hui was so angry that he vomited blood.
"Nonsense, you're talking nonsense..." Zhan Hui ignored the blood flowing from his mouth and still looked at Han Du with wide eyes, wanting to argue with Han Du.
"If so, if the emperor gives us the power, we will definitely be able to govern the Ming Dynasty better. How would the people of Ming Dynasty live better without warriors like you?"
Facing Zhan Hui's personal attack, Han Du frowned. Since you are so presumptuous, I don't need to be polite to you.
Han Du took a step forward, stared into Zhan Hui's eyes, and said bitterly: "Didn't the power given to you civil servants in the former Song Dynasty not be strong enough? Didn't the people of the former Song Dynasty not be tolerant enough to your civil servants? Could it be that the military generals of the former Song Dynasty would not give you enough power to your civil servants?" Don't you just obey your words?
What was the result? You guys screwed up! "
"You! You... Puff~ Puff~" Zhan Hui stared at Han Du with his eyes wide open, blood spurting out from the corners of his head and mouth uncontrollably.
Han Du saw it and quickly backed away. "What do you want to do?"
Zhan Hui did not answer Han Du. There was more and more blood at the corner of his mouth. Suddenly his head dropped and he stared at the ground motionless with his eyes wide open.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Jiang Wei quickly stepped forward, stretched out his hand to explore Zhan Hui's neck, and then glanced at Han Du with a face full of surprise and fear.
When Han Du saw Jiang Yu's expression, he suddenly felt something bad and asked quickly: "What's wrong? What happened to him?"
Jiang Wei ignored Han Du, walked forward, bowed to the emperor and reported: "Go back to the emperor, Zhan Hui is dead."
died? How could he die like this! Han Du deeply hated himself for talking too much, and also hated Zhan Hui for being too mentally fragile and unable to withstand even a few harsh words.
But it's useless to say all this now. It's better to admit your mistake to Lao Zhu quickly. For killing such an important person as Zhan Hui, your sin is not small. To put it more seriously, he is suspected of killing someone and silencing him.
"Your Majesty, I didn't do it on purpose. I really didn't do it on purpose. I didn't expect that he would be so... so unspoken..." Han Du looked at Lao Zhu, but his defensive voice Getting smaller and smaller.
Of course Lao Zhu didn't want Zhan Hui to die. He also wanted to use Zhan Hui to pry open his mouth and catch all the people behind the scenes. But now... Lao Zhu sighed secretly.
Fortunately, Lao Zhu didn't mean to blame Han Du. To be honest, Lao Zhu did not expect Zhan Hui to be angry to death by Han Du.
"Forget it, everyone is dead." Lao Zhu slowly stood up and waved his hand to signal Han Du to get up.
Looking at Zhan Hui, who had died, he said after a moment of silence: "Jiang Hui."
"I'm here."
Lao Zhu turned to face Jiang Wei and ordered with a stern face: "In seven days of exposing the body, the entire Zhan family will be executed."
"I accept the decree."
After Lao Zhu finished instructing Jiang Wei, he never looked at Zhan Hui again, signaled to Han Du, and walked out of the prison.
Han Du knew that Lao Zhu would definitely have something to ask him, so he quickly followed.
Sure enough, not long after Lao Zhu walked out of the prison, he stopped and stood in front of Han Du and asked: "Tell me from your heart, what do you think of civil servants?"
Han Du smiled, and his tone was full of disdain for civil servants: "You are a fool."
"Oh? Do you look down on them so much? If I remember correctly, you also passed the civil service examination. Strictly speaking, aren't you also a member of the civil service?" Lao Zhu was not angry, but laughed.
Han Du sighed and said: "It's not that I look down on them, it's that they themselves are looked down upon. Take officials as an example. Not only do they not want to make progress, but they only focus on old papers. For them, what's new is novel. Even if something is of great benefit to the people, they will not choose to try it. Moreover, they will prevent others from trying it in the name of 'ancestral family law'. With the salary from the court, they not only did not contribute to the Ming Dynasty, but instead They are holding back Ming Dynasty. Isn’t it natural for me to look down on them?"
"Yes, I often feel constrained. I didn't know why before, but now it seems that it's because these people are too stuck in the rules." Lao Zhu suddenly realized at first, and then showed a hateful expression.
Now that he has said this, Han Du has something to say, "Actually, such civil servants are mediocre people. They are greedy for pleasure and not enterprising. In order to maintain their status and maintain their authority, they They also prevent others from making progress. Really smart literati are actually very open-minded, just like Fang Xiaoru. Isn’t he a traditional literati? But according to the emperor, does he have the problems of civil servants? "
"No! After doing enough academic work, he wanted to become an official. After enough working as an official, he wanted to teach again. Now, he has gone overseas to become a governor. He has been trying new things and never thought about it. If you want to wait for death while keeping your merits, such literati are the officials the emperor needs."
The more Lao Zhu listened, the more satisfied he became. In the end, he even laughed and said, "I know you are recommending your friend to me, but Fang Xiaoru is indeed good. I accept your recommendation."
"Your Majesty is wise, how can the boy hide this from the Emperor's wisdom?" Han Du asked.
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A bit embarrassed by being exposed on the spot, he said flatteringly.
After Lao Zhu laughed, his face gradually became colder, and he looked at Han Du: "You are right, some civil servants are indeed mediocre and constrained in everything. I have been annoying them for more than a day or two. This time, I dare to push it out. Zhan Huilai is protesting with me. If we don’t deal with them, I won’t be able to swallow this bad breath. Is there any way you can deal with them?”
Han Du nodded and replied: "Your Majesty, the best way to completely eradicate these collusions between civil servants is to cancel the imperial examination."
"Cancel the imperial examination?" Upon hearing this, Lao Zhu frowned tightly.
Han Du nodded solemnly, "Exactly."
But facing Han Du's affirmative answer, Lao Zhu was a little hesitant. He looked up at Han Du and asked, "Why?"
Han Du quickly explained: "Your Majesty, you don't know. The imperial examination limits the scope of the examination to the Four Books and Five Classics. And who are the people who study the Four Books and Five Classics the most in the world?"
"These are the civil servants and Confucian scholars." Without waiting for Lao Zhu's answer, Han Du said directly, "After these people thoroughly study the Four Books and Five Classics, they can easily handle various imperial examinations. In their eyes, the imperial examinations are completely A no-brainer.”
"I have another question, why do scholars in the world study?" Han Du looked at Lao Zhu.
Lao Zhu subconsciously replied: "In order to help the world and the people, serve the imperial court?"
Han Du shook his head, "This is their process, not their purpose. The reason why scholars study hard for ten years is to pass the imperial examination and become an official. But once the secrets of the imperial examination are mastered by those civil servants and Confucian scholars, just imagine , A person who aspires to be an official in high school, yet he still doesn’t pay homage to them? He still doesn’t take their words as a guideline? He still doesn’t obey their instructions?”
"And once these people collude with their cronies and respond to one call after another, they will soon become too powerful. They may even intimidate them in return. If the imperial government's decree does not go their way at all, they will gather together to cause trouble and force the palace."
"How dare they!" Lao Zhu stared at Han Du with his beard blown, his voice cold and stern.
Han Du closed his mouth and did not continue talking. Whether civil servants know it or not, Han Du believes that Lao Zhu will understand without having to explain himself.
After all, Lao Zhu himself had experienced being forced into the palace by civil servants, more than once. Fortunately, Lao Zhu did not reason with the civil officials, but directly asked people to slap the civil officials with a stick outside the Fengtian Hall several times, and this evil trend was stopped.
Han Du looked a little downcast, "The emperor is the founder of the country, and they all dare to speak out and contradict him. Has the emperor ever thought about how they will deal with future emperors? Or will they continue to speak out and be beaten as they do now? Board, or?”
Han Du did not say some words clearly, but Han Du believed that Lao Zhu's intelligence would definitely know what he meant.
Lao Zhu's face suddenly darkened. Don't blame Han Du for thinking too much. A lot of things happened in the palace. Even the direct grandson can be poisoned, and even the prince has been poisoned. Although these were not done by civil servants, no one can guarantee that civil servants would never do this!
Han Du continued: "If you want to completely cut off the influence of these civil servants and Confucian scholars, then the source of their value is. Their greatest value is that they have thoroughly read the Four Books and Five Classics. As long as the imperial examination no longer tests the Four Books and Five Classics, then these people will not No longer worth the slightest bit. By then, the dogs won’t even give them a sniff.”
"If you don't take the Four Books and Five Classics test, then what's the test?" Lao Zhu looked at Han Du doubtfully.
When Han Du faced Lao Zhu's confused gaze, his heart suddenly surged like a stormy sea. Success or failure is just a matter of trembling. If it succeeds, then the academy will definitely shine brightly in the future. If it fails, then the academy will have no choice but to remain silent from now on.
"There are more knowledge in the world than the Four Books and Five Classics..." Seeing that Lao Zhu's expression did not change, Han Du took courage and said, "You can take the math, physics and chemistry exam."
"Imperial examination in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry?" Lao Zhu was stunned for a moment, then quickly came back to his senses, looked at Han Du and said with a meaningful smile: "I thought you were selfless, but I didn't expect that you would also take advantage of every opportunity to sneak in private goods. people."
Now that the words had been spoken, Han Du completely let go of his nervousness and laughed and said: "Those who are selfless are saints. Yes, I do have selfish motives on this point. After all, there are thousands of people in the academy. Since I have recruited them Once they enter the academy, they naturally have the obligation to consider their future."
"Although I do have some selfish motives, I really can't imagine that in today's world, apart from mathematics, physics and chemistry, there is anything else that can be compared with the Four Books and Five Classics and can be used as the content of the imperial examination. Moreover, the emperor is also the judge of the academy, so he is born with it. Teachers of academy students should also consider the academy students, right?"
"What's more, mathematics, physics and chemistry are indeed more useful to the people than the Four Books and Five Classics. Making hot air balloons can fly into the sky, making firearms can increase the combat power of the Ming army, making steam engines can make people gain greater power, and making spinning machines can make people Weaving more than ten times the amount of cloth in one day. These are real benefits.
On the contrary, apart from allowing some civil servants and Confucian scholars to dig into old books, what good does the Four Books and Five Classics do to the people? Not at all. "
"What you said makes sense..." Lao Zhu nodded.
Han Du was immediately ecstatic, but his face didn't show it at all.
"But......"
Han Du's heart suddenly felt cold. What he was most afraid of at this moment was 'but' it happened.
Lao Zhu shook his head and looked at Han Du: "For more than ten years, the imperial examination has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The boys who were just enlightened at the beginning are now gearing up to get the honor. If it is changed rashly, how easy is it?"
Han Du's expression suddenly became solemn and he advised: "No matter how difficult it is, you must do it. If the emperor doesn't do it, then no one will be able to do it in the future."
If Lao Zhu doesn't do it, then in the future civil officials will definitely use the guise of 'ancestral family law' to block anyone who wants to change the imperial examination indefinitely, even if this person is the emperor!
"Moreover, since these people are not of the same mind as the emperor, the more knowledgeable they are, the greater the harm to the court. Rather than leaving hidden dangers, it is better to abandon them all. Although this will cause temporary pain, but from now on In the long run, it will definitely be worth it.”
After pondering for a while, Lao Zhu sighed: "Canceling the imperial examination rashly is too drastic. Is there a compromise?"
"Yes." Han Du did not disappoint Lao Zhu again and said: "The sages advocated the six arts of the gentleman: etiquette, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and arithmetic. Now the only ones left by the Confucian scholars are books."
(End of chapter)
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