After Lu Xuanyuan learned about Zhu Youxiao's edict, he was extremely depressed and spoke to his son Lu Zesi.
"My son also didn't expect that today's emperor would change the law in order to protect Liu Hongxun! Hasn't he always hated evil and implicated himself in major cases? No longer a tyrant?"
Lu Zesi asked.
"This independent husband! Always so unexpected!"
Lu Xuanyuan said angrily and then said:
"Liu Changshan, too, dared to directly betray his own clan. Didn't he always pay attention to the integrity of scholar-bureaucrats? Why did he betray his own clan first?!"
"Now it seems that even if the Liu family is slaughtered, it will not threaten Liu Hongxun."
Lu Zesi said.
"This is all caused by the king having sole control of the world! The king violated the concept of governing the country with trust and was the first to break trust with the people of the world. But we did not expect that your majesty would dare to do this!"
"But now that I think about it, with His Majesty's temper, there is nothing he wouldn't dare to do. Not to mention trampling on the rules he has established, he even threatens to overturn the table and cause rebellion in his own court. He also says a lot!"
Lu Xuanyuan said.
"What my father said is, now that I think about it, it should be just like the gentlemen in Jiangnan who advocate limiting the power of the monarch, and the monarch should not be allowed to have the power to violate the rules and change the laws without authorization!"
Lu Zesi said.
…
"Now that I think about it, we have overlooked one thing, that is, our Majesty speaks of the Constitution, and he can change the laws however he wants. Only Your Majesty has the right to interpret the laws! Therefore, you don't want Your Majesty to When he is implicated, he can be implicated; when he wants to be implicated by His Majesty, he is not implicated!"
Chen Wei also spoke angrily in front of the seventh prince Zhu Cikai.
"So, the root cause of everything is the unrestricted monarchy!"
"But I don't understand. In a clan, the clan leader has to abide by the clan covenant and still get the support of the clan. Why is there no charter to restrict the king in the whole world? It is up to His Majesty to do whatever he wants, which in turn makes him favored. The ministers can do whatever they want!"
Liang Qingkuan, a scholar who also came to see Zhu Cikai, also spoke excitedly.
"Because my father, the patriarch of the clan, has a force that none of you can compete with. If you want a king to abide by the rules, then is this world still a king's world?"
Zhu Cikai asked with a smile at this time.
"The people are the most precious, the king is the most important, and the country is the second most important. These are the words of a sage!"
"This world is not just a world for the king alone, but should be a world for all the people. As the scholars are the leaders of the four peoples, they should be the leaders of the world. The king must obey the rules established by the scholar-officials, and guard the rules of the scholar-officials for the people. Establish a charter! Don’t mess around.”
Liang Qingkuan was a scholar with relatively radical ideas, and he suddenly said this at this time.
At this time in history, the idea of restricting monarchical power appeared in the Ming Dynasty, represented by Huang Zongxi. In this world, the capital of the Ming Dynasty developed more rapidly and the bourgeoisie became stronger. Naturally, there were more people who wanted to restrict monarchic power.
"Treasonous!"
Zhu Cikai stood up at this time and scolded Liang Qingkuan angrily.
Liang Qingkuan resolutely replied: "May I ask, Your Highness, do you also hope that the monarch will dominate everything?! Although you are a prince, has the society dominated by the monarch allowed you freedom? Aren't you also forced to stay in this small county town and have to I have worked diligently to complete various examinations and make no mistakes in order to satisfy His Majesty, but don’t have freedom? Why not limit the power of the monarch and let the people be free! And with His Royal Highness’s noble bloodline, there is no need to worry about not being able to live freely and happily!”
"shut up!"
Zhu Cikai slapped the table and shouted with anger and anger.
Chen Weize said at this time: "Your Highness, please calm down. In fact, I also think this is the right way, and the king should obey the constitution established by the people!"
"Everything is good in the Ming Dynasty now, but it is too unfree, especially the rentiers, who are more miserable than the common people. This is naturally due to your Majesty's personal attitude, but it is also caused by the excessive monarchy! Military, Finance and justice are all under the control of His Majesty. His Majesty can wage wars as he wishes, tax exemptions as he wishes, and relax sentences as he wishes. But the result of all this is that no one is free. Even Your Highness, you are not free!"
Chen Wei continued to speak, also expressing his opinions on limiting the monarch's power.
But because Zhu Youxiao's current decree, which goes against their interests and needs, is to exempt agricultural taxes and reduce implicated penalties, Chen Wei's reason for supporting the restriction of monarchy now becomes the emperor's arbitrary tax exemptions and lenient penalties.
At that time, the scholar-bureaucrats were opposed to Zhu Youxiao's tax increase and harsh torture laws, but now they are dissatisfied because of Zhu Youxiao's tax exemption and lenient punishment.
It can be seen that what is important is not tax increases, tax exemptions and harsh punishments, but whether the policies are in line with their wishes.
"That's right! Your Highness, if you become a king in the future, would you also want to be such an emperor? But Your Highness knows that being such a king, even though you have great power, you will not be free!"
"Because Your Highness must be like His Majesty. In order to maintain his power, he has to make every effort to calculate and guard against everything. Even for the benefit of the clan, he has to aggrieve himself, dare not indulge in pleasure, dare not patrol the world at will, and even Tianlun There is no joy at all. Your Highness, do you want to be such an emperor? That is to say, Your Majesty has always been as ruthless as Taizu and as sinister as Emperor Shizong. He has also used overseas profits to buy many loyalists, so that he can live to this day. If it were changed Your Highness, do you really dare to go against the people of the world?"
Liang Qingkuan asked.
Zhu Cikai indeed did not approve of his father's harsh and ungrateful side towards the rentiers in the world, and in order to maintain prestige and power, he also restrained himself from random behavior at all times.
But he still wants to be a powerful emperor.
Therefore, Zhu Cikai still said excitedly: "You are really crazy!"
"Your Highness, we are not crazy!"
Liang Qingkuan suddenly replied loudly, and then said: "Many scholars in the world, especially in the Jiangnan area, have long hoped to limit the power of the king and let all the people in the world be the masters of the Ming Dynasty. The scholar-bureaucrats are the leaders of the people, and they should establish a constitution for the people. To make the king obey the constitutional authority, this is the trend that no one can stop!"
After hearing this, Zhu Cikai couldn't help but thought: "Although I can't admit that their idea of limiting the monarch's power is correct, since so many people believe in this thing, it has to be used by me. Anyway, it would be difficult for me to do it with other qualifications." If you become an emperor and use their power, you may have a chance."
After Zhu Cikai thought this way, he asked: "Tell me how to be unstoppable?"
"Back to Your Highness, today there are more and more scholars in the world, and more and more rich people. Therefore, freedom has become what the people of the world need most! And the greatest freedom comes from the freedom of rights, the freedom of rights The fundamental reason for being restricted comes from the autocratic rule of the monarch! This is what people want!"
Chen Wei replied at this time.
"It is true that going against the will of the people is not an act of conformity. There must be a charter that expresses the will of the people, and the king must act in accordance with this charter. Only in this way can it be in line with the people of the world and implement the saint's teaching that the people are the most important."
Zhu Cikai replied against his will.
"Your Highness, Holy Ming!"
Chen Wei was overjoyed and hurriedly bowed to Zhu Cikai.
Liang Qingkuan also bowed his hands.
Zhu Cikai smiled faintly and was secretly proud.
…
"Your Majesty, these are the notes and speeches of the Lu family and their son that Dongchang found out by bribing the servants of the Lu family. They are all treason and injustice!"
Because Zhu Youxiao asked Dongchang to investigate the Lu Xuanyuan family closely, Han Zanzhou brought the corresponding evidence to Zhu Youxiao here.
Zhu Youxiao laughed after seeing it: "Looking at it like this, they are indeed the masterminds behind all this. My behavior of changing the laws and regulations has also disappointed them. The idea of restricting the monarch's power is getting stronger and stronger!"
"Your Majesty, we must beware of this thought. It is called restricting the power of the monarch, but in fact it wants to have excessive freedom, and then freely exploit the people!"
Lu Xiangsheng said at this time.
"Yes, as far as I know, the literati in the south of the Yangtze River are the most popular in discussing restrictions on monarchy, and when they discuss restrictions on monarchy, they always mention people's freedom! This means that the court now does not allow the people to have enough freedom, so they do not regard the people as the most important! "
Wen Tiren also followed suit.
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