This highly pragmatic memorial really shocked several cabinet ministers. They stared at each other in the meeting hall for a long time before they heard Shen Shixing cough lightly and said: "What do you think my cabinet should do with this memorial?" Draft a vote?"
Xu Guo hesitated for a moment and said nothing. Zhang Xueyan couldn't help but frown secretly when he saw it, and then said: "How can the cabinet be good at drafting such a succinct document? It must be handed over to the emperor for judgment. However, regulating the world is the responsibility of the cabinet ministers. , if you have no opinion at all when something big happens, it’s not right, you must always have an attitude.”
Shen Shixing finally met someone who dared to talk to him, and he was willing to let it go. He immediately asked: "What Mr. Xinzhai said is absolutely true. Such an article is related to the overall situation of the world. The cabinet has to adopt an attitude - not knowing what is going on." What does Duke Zhai think of Gao Qiuzhen's remarks?"
He originally thought that Zhang Xueyan was just using "the cabinet must have an attitude" to force him, the first assistant, to express his position first, so he seized the opportunity to quickly rebel against the general. Unexpectedly, Zhang Xueyan was not afraid to express his position.
I saw Zhang Xueyan suddenly arched his hands in the direction of the Ministry of War and said: "Although Gao Qiuzhen is a junior scholar, from today on, I will not dare to respect him in person."
Shen Shixing was stunned for a moment, and before he could figure out what Zhang Xueyan meant by his sudden words of praise and pragmatism, he saw Zhang Xueyan's deep voice and concentration, and said slowly: "As expected of the number one scholar in the Sixth Prize, he is indeed the most talented scholar in the world."
Shen Shixing was shocked when he heard that it was just the number one scholar in six titles. It was originally a high and pragmatic honor, but this world's bold scholars... Can this be concluded casually?
The word "literary bold" originally has several meanings, and its uses and usages are also different. However, once it is prefixed with the prefix "天下", there are usually only two situations: one is a scholar leader, and the other is the head of the court. auxiliary.
Which one of them is Gao pragmatism?
Although Shen Shixing still had a smile on his face, the smile looked stiff.
However, he did not object in the end, because he also knew that it was really courageous to say these words with a high and pragmatic status.
What did Gao Yongshi say in this essay that made Shen Shixing think so?
In this essay, Gao Pragmatic discusses one thing with an example at the beginning: ancestral rules are not inviolable. With the changing times, no ancestral rules must be violated. Everything must be determined according to the situation at that time. . Moreover, the ancestors did not abide by the ancestral system unconditionally. Even Emperor Taizu Gao himself made relevant adjustments many times after confirming the "ancestral precepts".
Since Taizu himself made adjustments, and later Chengzu and other "sages" also made many adjustments based on the national conditions at that time, why can't we make adjustments now?
After explaining the reasons why the ancestral system could be adjusted, Gao pragmatically began to "prescribe medicines." There are a total of five of his "adjustment" methods.
The first issue is the issue of ennoblement. Gao Pragmatic proposed that the number of knights should be strictly limited. For example, the eldest son of a prince would be crowned the prince as usual, while the second son of a legitimate concubine could only be knighted at most four of them. A total of five people could be knighted. As usual, the eldest son of a county king can be crowned king, while the second son of a legitimate concubine can only be granted nobility to two of them at most, and a total of three can be knighted. If the generals of Zhen, Fu, and Fengguo have legitimate sons, they are allowed to grant the title to two of them. If there are no legitimate sons, only one of the common sons is allowed to be granted the title. As for the lieutenants of Zhen, Fu, and Fengguo, it's a pity that they can only have one son, regardless of their direct concubine.
However, as the most critical issue, the issue of knighthood has not been finished yet. Gao pragmatically continued to make requests.
Since the clan members other than the above clan clans cannot be canonized, the arrangement is as follows: among them, those who are interested in studying will be admitted to school together with the outstanding children of the people. Among them, those who should be promoted to Kejia will be awarded the official title. However, there is a requirement that they can only serve as officials outside - in other words, they cannot be officials in the capital or go to the central government.
Other clans who are unable to study and choose to farm or work can just let them do what they want, and the court does not need to take care of them. If you consider that some of the clan members may not have the means to make a living, then you may wish to consider having the court give them an "initial capital".
For example, if the son of a prince is not allowed to be named, when he reaches the age of sixteen, the court will give him a crown and belt, and an additional 600 taels of silver will be given; if the son of a county prince is not allowed to be granted a title, when he reaches the age of 20, the court will give him a crown, belt, and 400 taels of silver; If the son of a lieutenant is not granted the title and wishes to enter school, he will be given clothes and scarves, and two hundred taels of silver will be given to each of his sons. In this way, whether you are studying to be an official or doing other things to make a living, you will not have to worry about things going wrong without care.
And if there are some of them that are completely worthless... Gao Pragmatic said that every family in the world has unworthy sons, which is helpless - in other words: the court does not raise waste, you can die wherever you like, I am here I didn't give you wastes any consideration.
After that, he solved two other related problems by the way: First, the clan could not leave the city. Gao Jingshi believes that it is not a problem for the clan to leave the city, and there is actually no such clause in the "ancestral precepts". As for why this statement was formed later, Gao Jingshi does not care - in fact, it happened after the Jingnan, and it was only an unspoken rule, so Gao Jingshi Being pragmatic here simply doesn’t admit it.
The other point is that he and Zhu Yijun had talked about "the punishment is not to go to the clan". Here Gao Pragmatic gave his opinion: all the clans that have not been canonized will be transferred to the jurisdiction of the law, no different from the people. By the way, he also argued that doing so was "the most righteous way."
After the issue of ennoblement is resolved, the second thing is the issue of succession. This is relatively simple. Gao Pragmatic does not agree with the succession of various brothers. He believes that only the prince level can be used by brothers. This is because the prince is regarded as "one country" and it is not easy to give others " The country is eliminated.” Of course, if there is no one to inherit from the elder brother to the younger brother, or even a nephew, then the heir is extinct, and the one who should be "eradicated" is the one who should be "eradicated".
The third article is very powerful. Gao Pragmatic directly abolished the "minimum guarantee" of the clan title - the original clan will not be demoted after reaching the lowest level of Fengguo Lieutenant, because that is the lowest level of the clan. When Lieutenant Feng Guo gave birth to a son, he was still Lieutenant Feng Guo, and the same was true for his grandson. In short, the reasoning was endless.
The population explosion of the clan was actually mainly caused by this, so this time Gao Pragmatic asked that no one below the rank of lieutenant of Fengguo should be granted any more title, and his eldest son should be given one hundred taels of silver as capital, and the reborn court would ignore it. Moreover, this policy only applies to the fifth generation, and after the fifth generation, the court does not care at all.
According to Gao's pragmatic point of view: I will give you one hundred taels each for the five eldest sons. If you still fail, it means that your family is too incompetent. Anyway, my court has done its best to be benevolent. If you should starve to death, just starve to death.
The fourth article is not very important. The main thing is that now that the ennoblement has been dealt with, the relevant treatment of the princesses, county owners and their families must of course be adjusted accordingly. Basically, they are opposite to the entitlement adjustment. No need to elaborate.
The fifth article is a proposal related to serious laws and disciplines. It is highly pragmatic and requires a thorough investigation of children of concubines, children of unauthorized marriages, children of renounced nobles, etc. In any case, they are so-called clans with unqualified status, and all must be found and eliminated.
Of course, considering that most of them were "children of unauthorized marriages", Gao Pragmatic was very kind and gave them a certain amount of food rations first, and then allowed them to choose their own path.
Gao Pragmatic is actually quite familiar with the above-mentioned handling methods, because he had been deeply exposed to similar matters in his previous life - the bankruptcy buyout of state-owned enterprises.
At that time, he came into contact with these things when he was the secretary of the county party committee. He had attended nearly a hundred meetings with his leader, visited more than 20 companies that were about to go bankrupt in the county, and discussed or argued with people in the companies. In short, he was Experience.
Gao Jingshi feels that the current clan problem in Ming Dynasty is similar to that of those state-owned enterprises that suffered losses in the past. It cannot be saved by bailouts alone. Those who should carry out bankruptcy buyout must be ruthless in doing so. If not, everyone will have to rest together.
Moreover, the clan problem is actually more serious than the loss problem of state-owned enterprises, because no matter how much the state-owned enterprises suffer losses, at least they still have products, but they are in big trouble such as insolvency and unsaleable products.
The problem of the clan is basically a pure loss for the court, and the loss is getting bigger and bigger. Whether you can afford it this year or next year, there will always be a day you can't afford it. When the time comes, your court will be so devastated that you will have no money to do anything, and the clan itself will starve to death because you can't get the money. Why bother?
It's better to change it early.
However, the reason why Shen Shixing did not object to Zhang Xueyan's boasting of Gao Pragmatic as the "world's most literate" in the end was not just because Gao Pragmatic proposed these things, because although the methods proposed by Gao Pragmatic were relatively concentrated and comprehensive, they were actually not as effective before him. Some officials have also mentioned some of them, such as strict scrutiny and clan crimes should be handed over to the judicial department. These have been mentioned before.
The great thing about Gao Pragmatic is that he not only talked about it all at once, but most importantly, he was the first person to propose these reforms as a "non-technical official" and the first court official to raise these issues. member.
This is amazing, because speaking officials "do not use words to punish crimes", but court officials do not have such "preferential treatment".
In other words, speaking these words in a highly pragmatic capacity involves taking huge political risks. If you fail to do so, you may anger the emperor, and you will be doomed.
Although Gao Pragmatic had a special relationship with the emperor, Shen Shixing had a very conservative attitude on this matter. He believed that no matter how close the relationship between the emperor and his ministers was, it could not change the fact that "the emperor, the minister, the minister" could not change.
As long as the emperor is still the emperor and Gao pragmatism is still a minister, the emperor's evil will remain untouchable.
Is the issue of vassalage the emperor's fault? No one can guarantee it, but it is indeed very possible, because the emperor himself must also show an attitude of caring for his family members. This is what Confucianism has always advocated, and no one can take it seriously.
Therefore, Gao pragmatically proposes these restructuring measures, no matter what, he is taking huge political risks.
In particular, if you do this, you won't be afraid of angering the sects all over the world and causing some kind of "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms" in the end?
Aren't you afraid that you will end up becoming Chao Cuo?
For these reasons, after Shen Shixing was silent for a long time, he finally nodded reluctantly and said, "I am so courageous and courageous."
Zhang Xueyan frowned and remained silent.
Wu Duize immediately said: "Since Yuan Fu also thinks so, then the cabinet might as well vote in favor."
Shen Shixing was a little hesitant and pondered without saying anything. In fact, from his perspective, it is indeed more difficult for him to handle.
First of all, the issue of vassal salary has indeed become a big trouble. As the chief minister, he should support such a restructuring. After all, once this restructuring is successful, the burden on the court will suddenly be much lighter.
But secondly, this matter was proposed by Gao Jingjing. If it is done, the first credit will definitely be attributed to Gao Jingjing, not as much as the other schools of thought. However, if he expresses support as the first assistant, he will definitely attract a lot of firepower for Gao Jingjing. In the past, it was equivalent to helping Gao Pragmatic in vain.
It is pragmatic and pragmatic, but you can't get much benefit. If this is a business, you will lose money no matter how you look at it.
The other thing is that if something goes wrong, just like the reason why he thought he was pragmatic and bold just now, if this thing is done carelessly and a few feudal kings rebel, it will be troublesome.
Although judging from the military power of the Ming Dynasty in recent years, it should not be afraid of rebellion by just a few vassal kings, but who knows whether the young emperor today is courageous enough? What if, like Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, he thought that he could rely on "killing Chao Cuo" to make the princes stop their troops, who would he choose to kill?
Should he kill Gao Pingshi, the instigator, or should he kill himself, the chief assistant?
That's not true.
Shen Shixing was feeling extremely embarrassed. Suddenly he glanced at Xu Guo who was silent and felt blessed. He immediately asked, "Brother Yingyang, what do you think?"
He originally thought that since Xu Guosheng, the nominal leader of the Shi School, didn't speak just now, it was probably Gao Pangshi who didn't even discuss such a big matter with him. He was probably very unhappy, so he didn't express his position. Therefore After he asked this question, Xu Guo would probably say something that he, Shen Yuanfu, would like to hear.
Who knew that Xu Guo's performance was beyond his expectation? Xu Cifu just said calmly: "The harm caused by Zongfan Zonglu has already happened. As a cabinet minister, I have neglected my duty for not sharing your worries earlier. Now. Now Since there is a truth-seeking initiative, I am naturally willing to join Jiwei and participate in this grand event."
Shen Shixing was shocked in his heart, but he couldn't show it on his face. He could only force a smile: "Brother Yingyang blames himself, but it is tantamount to blaming me. If anyone is to blame for this, he must do it immediately."
This was actually a polite remark, or something that was said under duress, but once it was said, it could not be taken back.
Zhang Xueyan and Wu Dui looked at each other and were about to express their agreement, but unexpectedly, another person took the lead.
Wang Jiaping, a bachelor of the East Pavilion and the left minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, patted the armrest of the Taishi chair and said loudly: "What the second assistant said is very true. It should not have been initiated by my cabinet for such a major event. Now that an important minister of the imperial court has solemnly proposed it, , How can we, who are willing to accept the emperor's salary and be loyal to the emperor, not say a word until now? In order to relieve the people's poverty, enrich the country, and support the clan, I would like to second the proposal: please open the vassal ban!"
When Shen Shixing heard this, he immediately looked towards Wang Jiaping. At the same time, his heart tightened and he secretly said: It's broken.
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Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
PS: After publishing a chapter yesterday, some readers said that they didn’t understand a few sentences of the classical Chinese text and felt that they were at a loss, so today’s chapter specifically uses Shen Shixing’s thinking and narration to sort out the main ideas of “Please open the feudal ban” After a while, there should be no reading difficulty now.
