Like almost all bureaucrats in the Southern Song Dynasty, both Lu You and Han Yuanji had completely read the first volume of "Hongwu Political Treatise" through their respective channels in the past few months.
Lu You read it five times and Han Yuanji read it three times.
Then they met for a drink in private with all their worries in mind. After getting together, they were speechless.
After a while, Lu You slowly spoke.
"We never would have imagined that Emperor Ming, whom we fear like a tiger, is actually one of our own."
Hearing this, Han Yuanji smiled bitterly.
"Don't say that, Wu Guan, he has never regarded us as his own people. He is not even from the Song Dynasty anymore. He is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the famous Human Emperor. He wrote the words to destroy the Song Dynasty in his own handwriting, and even threatened to destroy the Song Dynasty. It’s the existence that will drive us all out.”
"Kill them all..."
Lu You looked at Han Yuanji, then looked out the window. After a while, he whispered in a low voice: "Wujiu, do you think those people in the Ming Dynasty who were driven to death by Su Yonglin are really innocent?"
Han Yuanji was stunned when he heard this, and then looked at Lu You in astonishment.
"Wuguan, you...you don't think what Su Yonglin said is right, do you?"
"I...I don't agree with what he means. I just want to discuss it realistically. Are the people he drove and killed really innocent? Are they really clean?"
Lu You looked at Han Yuanji and said slowly: "These days, I have listened to the private remarks of some colleagues. They all said that Su Yonglin was a murderer and was crazy about blood.
In order to kill people, he actually came up with a set of fallacies and made his behavior very reasonable to confuse people and make it easier for him to continue killing people.
But no matter how I look at it, I don't think Su Yonglin is a murderer. If he was a pure murderer, how could he start an uprising in Shandong, raise an army when he was completely impoverished, and eventually overthrow the Jin Kingdom?
Are all the people in the Central Plains blind? How could they support a murderous man and a man who was of no help to them to become the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty? No fault, I can't figure it out. "
Han Yuanji looked at Lu You's hesitant expression and was silent for a long time.
Then there was a long sigh, as if he couldn't hide what he was thinking, and he wanted to express it.
"I don't know about other people, but when I was young, I did witness a vicious servant beating a tenant at home. I wanted to stop it, but my father stopped me and said, the tenant made a mistake and must be beaten. If he doesn't beat him, it won't last long. Memory, like me, I have to punish myself when I make a mistake, so there is nothing wrong with it.”
"That shouldn't be the same kind of beating, right?"
Lu You said quietly.
"Yes, I thought so too. Just being hit on the palm by a ruler was already very painful, but that tenant... was kicked to the ground and kicked so hard that he vomited blood... it must have hurt more, right? "
Lu You was silent for a moment and then said, "So what Su Yonglin said he saw is true, right?"
"………………"
Han Yuanji didn't know what to say, so he just stopped talking.
He didn't want to admit it.
In fact, many officials have this mentality. They don't want to admit it, but they clearly know that it is true. Everything Su Yonglin wrote and everything he saw is true.
The suffering of the people is all real.
It's just that they can't accept the things they ignore and take for granted. In Su Yonglin's eyes, it has become the original sin of this group of [upper class people] and the reason why they must pay the price for it.
Isn't it normal for a few people to starve to death?
Are there fewer people who have starved to death throughout the ages?
No one cares, not even those powerful kings, not even the emperor who claims to be one emperor throughout the ages. Why do you care so much?
Why do they have to have a full stomach?
Why can't they starve to death?
Who stipulates that they must all be full to be considered a good emperor? What is considered a successful system?
Not only do you care, but you also want to overturn it all, end it all, and sweep us all into the garbage dump. Who can bear this?
Even so, why do you assert that we are all going to die? Why do you think that since we are all cold-blooded and cruel people, we must turn a blind eye to the suffering of the people?
I'm sad too, do you know?
Thinking of this, Han Yuanji suddenly felt angry in his heart.
"It's just that I still can't accept it. Why does he say that we have never done anything good? When we asked for help for the people, he saw it? When we tried our best to argue with the black hat on our heads, he saw it?
He didn't see it! He didn't see anything! He doesn't know how determined we are when we plead for the people! That’s also a risk! Why does he say that I am guilty? ! "
Lu You looked at the angry Han Yuanji and sighed.
"That's what I say, but... I haven't accomplished anything, right?"
Han Yuanji was stunned and looked at Lu You in astonishment.
"Although we fought hard based on our reasons and petitioned for the people, our opinions were not adopted in the end, and then... there was no more, right?"
Lu You smiled bitterly and said: "No blame, I just noticed that it turns out that we only asked for orders once for the people, and after there was no follow-up, we never asked for orders again.
Will doing this really save their lives? Does this really make sense to them? What they need is food, salt, less taxes, and benevolent government. But can we really achieve it? "
Han Yuanji was speechless.
But he lowered his head and thought for a while, then shook his head, walked up to Lu You, reached out and patted Lu You on the shoulder.
"Wuguan, I know you have always been kind-hearted, but this is a big issue of right and wrong. It is by no means a trivial matter. What Su Yonglin did has changed the situation unprecedentedly. He deposed Confucianism and destroyed the Kong family. What he did is compared to Qin Shihuang Burning books and entrapping Confucians is even more terrifying.
We all know the fate of the Qin State. When the Ming Dynasty deposed Confucianism, it was bound to be the next violent Qin. It itself would be destroyed, but before it was destroyed, it could also destroy the six kingdoms. Therefore, the Song Dynasty faced huge dangers, and we, the Song Dynasty, faced great dangers. A huge change, at this moment, is not a time of weakness, but a time of crisis! Worry! Wake up! "
Lu You was silent for a while, then nodded slightly, but then his face became full of confusion.
"I know, I know he wants my life, but... But I don't know why, there is always a voice in my heart, saying, Su Yonglin is right, we did something wrong... No blame, am I sick? ?”
"You'd better not be sick. Even if you are sick, it should be a disease that can be cured."
Han Yuanji patted Lu You heavily on the shoulder: "I heard that some people in the DPRK and China are planning to join forces to write an article to refute Su Yonglin's fallacies word for word, to get to the bottom of things, and to set the record straight. Anyone who agrees with what Su Yonglin said is heresy and will be punished. It will never get better. You must not get sick in the next period of time."
Lu You's expression became solemn.
"Is it Kong?"
Han Yuanji nodded.
"Well, several prominent figures in the Kong family got together and wrote to the court, saying that Su Yonglin's fallacies and heresies have seriously harmed the spread of Chinese culture. They must rectify the source, rectify the world's hearing and hearing, and comfort people's hearts. So during this period The wind is blowing hard, so be careful."
"I see."
Lu You nodded, and after a while, he whispered again: "Actually, I am more interested in the brand-new Ming Dynasty described by Su Yonglin than these things. I really want to see how the farmers there live. How does it work? Is it true that no one is starving to death, no blame, what do you think?"
Han Yuanji was stunned for a while.
"So what?"
Lu You showed a little excitement.
"If so, stones from other mountains can attack jade. We can refute Su Yonglin's fallacies and disagree with his cruelty, but some of his methods may be a solution to the Song Dynasty's predicament.
Think about it, the people of the Song Dynasty were miserable. We saw this. They lacked food and clothing and could not afford salt. This is true. If some of Su Yonglin's methods can be used by us, we can make the people eat more. Wouldn't it be nice to have some grain? "
"this……"
Han Yuanji was hesitant, and after thinking about it, he felt that what Lu said might not be unreasonable.
Although Su Yonglin was cruel, if the people under his rule could have enough to eat, it would be an extremely benevolent government. He was cruel to scholars, but if what he said was true, he was like a saint to the people.
this……
Is it really not helpful to the Song Dynasty?
Han Yuanji was shaken.
"But I didn't look carefully enough. How about taking another look?"
Lu You took out a genuine copy of "Hongwu Political Theory" from his arms.
"Didn't Xianggong Ye already order a complete ban on this book? What if someone knew about it?"
Han Yuanji was shocked and looked around quickly, then got up and closed the window of the room.
Lu You hurriedly said: "It's been hidden secretly. No one knows about it except you and me. Nothing will happen. Can't you see?"
"Let me... take a look."
Han Yuanji looked at the book and remembered the explosive content in it. After all, he couldn't resist the temptation to read it again.
So the two turned the cocktail party into a reading club, and secretly gathered together to read "Hongwu Political Treatise", trying to find a way to save the Southern Song Dynasty.
Su Yonglin was indeed cruel, and the Ming Dynasty was indeed cruel, but some of his practices may be very meaningful to the Southern Song Dynasty, so it’s okay to take a look at them, right?
Lu You and Han Yuanji could be regarded as enlightened persons in the Southern Song Dynasty court. They could still remain calm in the face of Su Yonglin's naked threat, and even wanted to learn something from it.
But ordinary bureaucrats simply cannot do it.
They were horrified when they discovered that Su Yonglin not only wanted to destroy the Song Dynasty, but also wanted to depose Confucianism and even eradicate them in all aspects.
It doesn't matter if you destroy the Song Dynasty, but it doesn't matter if you want to eradicate them completely.
On the one hand, they strongly demanded that Su Yonglin's fallacies and heresies be banned; on the other hand, they asked the court to prepare for war and strictly prevent the Ming army from going south to attack the Southern Song Dynasty.
Originally, many of them even harbored an extremely disloyal idea in their hearts.
As long as the Ming Emperor continued to let them serve as officials, they actually didn't care who became the emperor.
Just like Lu Su said, ministers can still serve as officials if they surrender, so even if the emperor of the Zhao family is gone, they don't care. They can continue to serve as officials anyway, and their interests will not be damaged.
When the Ming Dynasty came, the worst they could do was surrender and change themselves into official uniforms. They were still officials anyway.
Nothing much has changed.
But things are different now.
Su Yonglin stopped letting them serve as officials.
