"Really? No, right? Well, the people here who can't get a new piece of clothing after buying it for 3 years should also come forward."
Seeing that no one got up, Zhu Youjian continued to speak.
"There are 400 million people in the Ming Dynasty. More than 80% of the people whose families can't eat two meals of meat a month and who can't buy a new piece of clothing in three years account for more than 80% of them. You number 180 people don't even have a poor person. How can we represent the people?”
Zhu Youjian continued to ask.
The world is never absolutely fair.
For now, Zhu Youjian is considered the emperor. Although they are rich and powerful, they are just ordinary people in front of Zhu Youjian.
In this case, Zhu Youjian can say whatever he wants.
You can say it in whatever tone you use. Interrupt them if you want to.
Just like now, Zhu Youjian doesn't speak, and they don't even dare to stand up.
. . . .
But they can't.
After all, the current emperor really knows how to kill people.
Those powerful landlords and civil and military officials used to dare to point their fingers at the emperor's nose and scold them because they knew the emperor would not kill them, but now they dare not gamble.
Some time ago, many people in Donglin were sent to prison. Whether they live or die depends on His Majesty's thoughts. Let everyone see that His Majesty is a decisive and decisive person. .
Since then, they no longer dare to make mistakes.
"Compared to the fact that all of you here are scholars, I would like to ask you,... water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it. This is what Wei Zheng used the words in "Xunzi" to warn Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. What did he mean?"
The old man raised his hands to Zhu Youxiao and said: "Your Majesty, this is a comparison of the monarch to a boat and the people to water. Water can carry the boat and overturn it. It means that the people can support the monarch and overthrow him. Wei Zheng was admonishing Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty to love the people."
After listening to the old man's words, Zhu Youjian asked: "Tell me, which people should you love? Is it the scholars? The squires and landlords? The officials? Or the mud-legged people they call them?
After listening to Zhu Youjian's words, the old man's heart skipped a beat. What a fatal question. How could such words come from the emperor's mouth? His mind was thinking rapidly, but he didn't know how to speak to Zhu Youjian.
"I believe that what the monarch should really cherish are the farmers with their faces facing the loess and their backs to the sky, those working people at the bottom who are called mud-legged by the gentry and bureaucrats, not the gentry and landlords!",
Before the old man could speak, Zhu Youjian continued.
"I know that many of you are dissatisfied and think that your status is much higher than those with legs.
But I want to ask, have you contributed far more to the Ming Dynasty than those mud-legged people? "
"I know that many of you are dissatisfied and feel that your contribution is much more than that of those mud-legged people, but you should think about it carefully and touch your conscience. Have you or your relatives or clan deliberately failed to pay taxes? ?
Is there anyone who would rather take ten thousand taels of silver to go to a brothel to buy the smiles of those mortal women, thereby realizing how rich he is but deliberately not paying taxes?
When the tax officials go down, either they don’t have any money, or they just beat them back? "
"What's wrong? Why aren't you talking? I'm asking you a question. Do you think the existence of the Ming Dynasty can protect your interests? Or do you think the Ming Dynasty was destroyed by Jiannu and replaced by barbarian rule by people like Jiannu? Can you protect your interests? Where are the benefits?”
