"Are the people I value so much evil villains? It's not something you, a traitor, can judge! Even if they are evil villains, at least they are not plotting to kill me, nor are they murdering my father, nor are they being traitors. thief!"
Zhu Youxiao said coldly.
Then, Zhu Youxiao looked at Fang Congzhe and said: "I am naturally aware of the sins of the ministers. However, I have always been kind and can't bear to criticize my ministers harshly. Therefore, there is no need to report these minor offenses that are neither regicide nor greed. Please pay attention from now on, I forgive you! However, God has the same intention as me. Once a minister fails to cultivate his virtue, he will be unfair to me, and may send down fire from the sky, or cause an earthquake, or may not send down sweet rain. When the time comes, all ministers will As Zhou Aiqing said, we should cultivate the virtues of ministers in time. Although I am easy to deceive, God is hard to deceive!"
"Your Majesty, please remember this! Thank you for your kindness! Long live my emperor!"
Fang Congzhe and others hurriedly replied.
Zhu Youxiao's monarch power has indeed reached a higher level now.
Even natural disasters are no longer defined as warnings to the emperor, but are regarded as warnings to ministers.
The key is that this is a result that most civil servants in the court today, that is, the elites of this era, spontaneously acknowledge.
It can be seen that Zhu Youxiao is indeed not fighting alone. Because of the same interests, there is already a considerable royalist force behind him to maintain or even strengthen his monarchy.
As a result, Zhu Youxiao looked even more majestic. With a wave of his hand and a cold look, all the officials nodded and stood respectfully.
And all this is the result that Zhu Youxiao had expected.
Because he knew that in the early days of capital, once the royal family took the initiative to transform into a big capitalist, other forces that wanted to plunder capital would take the initiative to strengthen the monarchy and work with the emperor to plunder the interests of the old manor and landlord forces. Therefore, capitalism was the first to appear in history. The early thinkers of England would have the view of strengthening the monarchy.
The same is true now in the Ming Dynasty. The application of new spinning machines and looms in government-owned industries made these reformist officials who were both imperial officials and shareholders of government-owned industries hope to rely on the emperor to lead them to suppress traditional The gentry also hoped that the emperor would stand in front of them to maintain the stability of the entire country.
Publicly and privately, these people all had the natural motivation to strengthen the monarch's power, and therefore, they all listened to the emperor's words.
However, because these civil servants had the same interests as the emperor and supported the emperor, they were denounced as party traitors by other scholar-bureaucrats who opposed the New Deal.
As Jin Maoji said now.
However, Zhu Youxiao does not think in his heart that those who support him are traitors and must seek abuse. He thinks that only those who scold him for nothing are true gentlemen and loyal ministers.
In Zhu Youxiao's view, if the officials currently employed by him in the court are traitors, then it would be best for such traitors to recruit another division.
After all, such a traitorous party can make the national treasury's annual grain tax revenue reach more than 30 million taels, and the annual silver income reach more than 6 million taels, far exceeding any era in the Ming Dynasty. It can also quickly register hundreds of thousands of refugees to avoid large-scale The civil uprising increased the number of elites in the empire by more than 100,000, and even tens of thousands were directly controlled by the emperor. As a result, the power of the Hou Jin Dynasty, which had historically grown to the west of Liaoning, was now on its last legs.
If such a ruling group is considered a traitorous party, then the more powerful such a traitorous party is, the better.
Therefore, Jin Maoji's words could not fool Zhu Youxiao at all.
Moreover, after Jin Maoji heard that Zhu Youxiao still emphasized that he was a rebel, not even as good as the traitors in his mouth, he felt even more angry because it was difficult to defend himself.
Jin Maoji had to look at the few other silent officials in the court, and even looked at Zhao Nanxing, looking for help.
After all, Zhao Nanxing was considered someone who opposed Fang Congzhe before.
But people like Zhao Nanxing avoided his gaze.
Although they don't like the current Emperor Tianqi in their hearts, they also know that the trend is on the Emperor's side.
Jin Maoji felt helpless because of this, so he had to say: "Yes, the guilty minister is not qualified to imitate Hai Gong! But the guilty minister is really sincere. Please be merciful to me, your majesty!"
Jin Maoji fell to the ground as he spoke and began to cry.
Zhu Youxiao looked at Jin Maoji like a clown, raised the corners of his mouth in disdain, and ordered: "Send the order! Send Jin Maoji to prison immediately, and strictly interrogate his accomplices in the East Factory! Wait for punishment!"
Zhao Nanxing gave Jin Maoji a sympathetic look as he was dragged out of the hall.
As a pretender who lurks in the court and supports the emperor on the surface, but inwardly supports or sympathizes with Jin Maoji, Zhao Nanxing's heart is very complicated at the moment.
He hated the current situation, in which most civil servants followed the emperor's lead.
Zhao Nanxing missed the scene when the civil servants opposed the emperor together during the Wanli period, especially when they were fighting for the country. In order to prevent the emperor from disturbing the etiquette and order, everyone made Prince Fu the prince. They used various means and worked together to bring down the emperor. Several times as chief ministers, the emperor was forced to live in the deep palace and never come out. Unlike now, a tyrant who frequently destroyed nine tribes was praised as the most holy king in the ages, even by the scholar-bureaucrats themselves.
Therefore, Zhao Nanxing now feels that these civil servants were a little too harsh on Emperor Shenzong Wanli.
"Compared with Tianqi who is cruel, cunning and tough-minded, Wanli is really a good benevolent king."
Zhao Nanxing thought so in his heart.
As a result, after Zhao Nanxing returned home, he knelt down quietly in the direction of Emperor Wanli's mausoleum in his own yard. With tears in his eyes, he devoutly recited in his heart: "Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Temple, is on high, Zhao Nanxing, the guilty minister, apologizes to you. At that time, the guilty ministers and others had some disrespectful words towards you. Now that I think about it, it is true that I have overrated you. You have been a benevolent leader for a generation. Although you have failed to teach the country well, you are not responsible for it. You should have been privately judged as a coward by the ministers back then! If you have a soul in heaven, I hope you will forgive me for your sin!"
Zhao Nanxing can only express his dissatisfaction with the New Deal in this obscure way now.
"Sir, this is a secret letter sent by Mr. Ding, a doctor in the Ministry of War's staff department, telling you to burn it after reading it!"
And just after Zhao Nanxing knelt down to worship Wanli, his confidant's servant came over and handed Zhao Nanxing a secret letter.
After hearing this, Zhao Nanxing immediately took the letter, opened it and read it.
Zhao Nanxing only read the letter: "Since Tianqi came to the throne, all the gentlemen in the court have died one after another, or been banished to the wilderness, and died in foreign lands. But now only Zhao Gong and other upright people live in the court, so that in the future Mr. Zhao can serve in the court." We are plotting, so I leave a letter to the public to let you know that the righteousness in the world has not been completely suppressed by the evil. After Ye Gong of Fujian, he has secretly formed an alliance with many Jin gentry in the south who opposed the new policy of the imperial court and fled overseas, preparing to find a secret And then they spent a lot of money to recruit Japanese slaves and train pirates from all over the island that the imperial court didn't know about. They used Qi Jiguang's military training skills and learned from the imperial court to purchase various advanced firearms from Western countries, hoping to train powerful divisions who could defeat the emperor in the future! We also hope to counterattack the mainland in the future! We also hope that Duke Zhao can secretly contact the northern gentry and bureaucrats who are dissatisfied with the New Deal and form an alliance!"
Zhao Nanxing was horrified after seeing it, and felt his heart pounding.
"Bring me the candle!"
Zhao Nanxing immediately gave instructions.
His servants came over with candles.
But Zhao Nanxing glanced at his slave and thought to himself: "Now that Dongchang's eyes are all-pervasive, even if I burn the letter, I am afraid that the emperor will know about it, and he will even ask himself, then he will be doomed! And Ding Qirui If he was given this suddenly, it might be that Fang Congzhe and others were plotting it secretly. Even if he wished that there were gentry and powerful families in the south secretly training troops overseas and getting rid of that tyrant in the future, he couldn't risk his life and fortune, so he might as well take the initiative to tell him. Emperor, this way the emperor will believe in his loyalty, and even if this tyrant is eliminated in the future, he will be able to explain himself and blame everything on Dongchang."
After thinking this way, Zhao Nanxing took the secret message away from the candlelight: "Prepare the sedan! I am going to the palace overnight!"
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