Officials of the Ming generation grew up in rigid political correctness. Everything they revolved around was morality, so they really dared to resist the majestic imperial power.
So Fang Xiaoru said to Zhu Di: Death means death, the edict should not be ignored!
This is something that we modern people who grovel and regard flattery as an advantage and happily teach it to the next generation cannot understand.
In fact, was Liu Daxia afraid of offending the prince? Offend the emperor?
Not even thinking about it, at least he had to show that he wouldn't.
What he was really afraid of was what the prince was doing right now - exposing that hypocrisy.
Li Yancai and Xu Ruoqin are all people like him who keep fighting for profits with the people. As a result, he was exposed on the spot as such a bold and corrupt official.
But he, Liu Daxia, used this as a basis to question the crown prince. What a heavy blow it would be to his reputation to spread the news about Qianqing Palace.
Even Emperor Hongzhi knew that this kind of counterattack would be more fatal than removing Liu Daxia from his position.
However, the emperor was obviously more concerned about Zhejiang's nest this time.
If you think about it carefully, from his perspective, he worked so hard and cooperated with these ministers. Regardless of the effect, it can be said that he really worked hard to govern, treated his subjects leniently, and worried about this country.
As a result, after seventeen years of working day and night, something like this happened!
That's why he was like a madman, randomly grabbing a small bowl beside the bed and smashing it on the ground!
And asked sternly: "There is such a shocking thing in Zhejiang! Why has no one of you reported it to me?! If it were not the prince, I would have thought that all honest gentlemen were guarding the emperor on behalf of the emperor! In February of this year, Do you agree that I want to build the Life Extension Pagoda? How many ministers have talked to me, what do they say? The affairs of Buddha, old people, ghosts and gods are of no benefit to the world and are harmful to the people. Looking at each other in this temple, there are groups of monks and Taoists, and they cannot enter for fasting or worshiping. Rewards and gifts are useless, exhausting the world's wealth and exhausting the world's strength! What a drain on the world's wealth! What a drain on the world's strength! Liu Daxia!"
"I'm here, old minister." For people like Liu Daxia, when he is stubborn, he is reasonable. When not, he has nothing to say, so at this moment, he is touching his head to the ground, bearing the emperor's anger all his life.
Emperor Hongzhi was so angry that his chest heaved violently. After a pause, his expression became tangled for a while, as if he was remembering the friendship between him and Liu Daxia.
So I was heartbroken and couldn't bear to point at the old man, "Li Yancai, was it you who recommended me?"
Liu Daxia suddenly showed his old age, and he could not help but cry in his voice, "This person... was indeed recommended by the old minister. It is only because of his lack of talent, lack of knowledge, old eyesight, unclear understanding of people, and improper employment of people, that this shocking incident happened in Zhejiang. This corruption is all my fault. I only hope that your majesty... your majesty can calm down your anger and pay attention to the dragon body! If your majesty's dragon body is injured because of this, I will die and it will be difficult to atone for my sin."
Zhu Houzhao also stepped forward and patted his father on the back.
Emperor Hongzhi was only wearing white clothes at this time, sitting on the dragon bed, and would clench his fists and cough lightly from time to time.
"Hey." Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but sigh.
On the other side, Liu Daxia continued: "Kang Chen is old, frail and mentally weak. I sincerely ask your Majesty to allow me to serve as an official and return to my hometown to spend my remaining years!"...
Before reading Wang Hua’s letter,
Liu Daxia has not thought about resigning yet.
But after reading it, he had no choice but to resign, even in the face of some ridicule.
Because in the moral battle with the prince, he had completely lost.
Emperor Hongzhi was still struggling at first, but when he heard Liu Daxia say this, he felt a stab of pain in his heart, "These are my ministers... In the eleventh year of Hongzhi, the prince once reprimanded the former Minister of Hubu Zhou Jing here. What he said at the time , I still vividly remember it. Prince, do you still remember?"
"My son, I remember."
"Maybe Liu Shangshu has heard of it. If you remember, just say it again."
Zhu Houzhao obeyed the order, "The Minister of Zhou also resigned in the same way at that time. The son-in-law said that sometimes it was difficult to tell who was the emperor and who was the minister in the Ming Dynasty. The ministers asked his father to do this and do that every day, but once They encountered one or two strange things
In a place where one wishes, one often resigns or becomes an official, as if..."
The prince rolled his eyes and said murderous words, "It's as if the emperor has to listen to them."
This is not just for Liu Daxia.
These are all important ministers.
"Let's talk about it. How should we deal with this matter?" Hongzhi stroked his forehead, obviously having a headache.
Liu Jian already had a plan in his mind and immediately said: "Your Majesty, I think that although Zhejiang Chief Minister Li Yancai and others have plans to send 180,000 taels of silver to Beijing, the person they send is not necessarily Liu Shangshu. Even if Yes, based on Wei Chen’s understanding of Liu Shangshu, the money will not be accepted. Therefore, the corruption in Zhejiang is true, but it has nothing to do with Liu Shangshu. Moreover, if convicted in this way, officials from all over the Ming and Ming Dynasties and thirteen provinces There are so many officials who want to bribe. It is impossible for them to have this idea, and Liu Shangshu will be punished along with them. Therefore, the minister felt that giving the imperial minister of war a heavy responsibility might cause criticism. "
The cabinet chief is not impatient to begin with, but he cannot allow the situation to worsen without easing it. Just as he had advised Zhu Houzhao before,
Liu Daxia was a veteran of three dynasties. It was really inappropriate to have him fucked off with the confiscated money.
After saying that, he looked at Zhu Houzhao, and their eyes met.
In fact, Mr. Liu Ge doesn’t have to worry so much.
Because Zhu Houzhao had already expressed that rectifying Zhejiang's officialdom was obviously much more important than fighting to win Liu Daxia.
Liu Daxia poses no threat to the East Palace.
Zhu Houzhao's power and status are now very stable, so he needs to do something reliable instead of venting his emotions first.
Liu Jian's words were probably in line with the emperor's wishes.
Because upon closer inspection, Liu Daxia did not have any serious crimes. After all, he had not yet confiscated the 180,000 taels. As for the prince competing for profits with the people, it was at most just a misunderstanding and was deceived by these corrupt officials in Zhejiang.
So the emperor turned to ask, "Prince, what do you think should be done?"
Zhu Houzhao replied: "Our ancestors have established precedents on how to deal with officials who are corrupt. We only need to punish them according to the law."
The emperor was actually concerned about Liu Daxia.
But the prince was talking about those officials in Zhejiang.
In fact, how many people in the Nuan Pavilion of Qianqing Palace anticipated the prince's thoughts? So when these words came out, everyone was a little surprised. ….
He really has no interest in this trick of kings, kings, ministers, gentlemen and villains.
The emperor asked: "I am talking about Liu Daxia."
"I have no objection to how Liu Shangshu should deal with it. I originally came to report to my father about the nest in Zhejiang."
Liu Daxia had an epiphany at this time.
Dong Gong actually didn't take him seriously at all.
But then again, what is law? What is the ancestral precedent for dealing with corrupt officials?
Why are the facts of the crime ascertained?
The prince's suggestion was not approved by many officials?
The reason is that this so-called precedent was set by Zhu Yuanzhang. Lao Zhu was the only one in history to deal with corrupt officials.
Ming Dynasty Law - Any official who accepts a bribe of more than 60 taels of silver will be directly beheaded.
In other words, this time from Li Yancai to Xu Ruoqin, all the prince's requests were taken out of Kacha.
Since Emperor Hongzhi came to the throne, he has never held such a grand event.
Even from Yongle to now, there has never been such a big event.
In fact, we need to correct a concept, that is, the crime of corruption and bribery was not serious in ancient times. This does not mean that its consequences and impact were not serious, but because people were inherently different at that time.
In ancient times, people had hierarchies. I was a noble, you were a commoner, and there were even untouchables. We were not equal. I had good food and you had bad food. This is as it should be.
Even many wise emperors like to use corrupt officials or can tolerate corrupt officials.
Sometimes the emperor particularly hoped that some military attachés would be more corrupt.
In the emperor's concept, he is rich all over the world,
The world belongs to him, so what if he takes a little more to give to someone he likes or to achieve a certain political goal?
Moreover, Confucian ministers have long promoted a governance value called "lenient punishment".
It is often said together with the strategies of "encouraging agriculture and mulberry trees" and "promoting education" to govern the country.
Especially after the death of Qin II, the harshness of Qin's laws has always been a negative example used to educate the emperor. In fact, Qin's strict laws allowed Qin to unify the six kingdoms.
Anyway, ministers in the past dynasties did not like harsh punishments. The reason is very simple.
If the punishment is severe, who will suffer the most? Of course he is a minister.
Therefore, emperors like Yongzheng have a bad reputation.
Emperor Kangxi was deeply influenced by Confucianism. In his later years, he began to neglect government affairs and focused on being tolerant, which led to extreme corruption in the officialdom in the last years of Kangxi.
Hongzhi was also famous for his leniency towards officials.
With this as background,
In fact, it can be understood that the method of dealing with Zhejiang Eucalyptus mentioned by Zhu Houzhao was not accepted by the emperor and ministers at this time.
Therefore, as soon as he said that he must be punished according to law,
Three words came to everyone's mind: too heavy.
Beheading for rebellion, beheading for rebellion, and beheading for deceiving the emperor. Once you become an official, you are already an exploiting class. If you exercise a little bit of exploitative power, do you still have to behead?
Liu Daxia also didn't expect that the prince would be so ruthless.
In fact, it would be better for him to handle this matter in a low-key manner. If so many people are killed, it will definitely shock the whole country. Then everyone will know about the ugliness that Liu Daxia made here this time...
I just don't know if this aspect was intentional on the part of the prince.
On the other side, Li Dongyang immediately said: "Your Highness, if this is done in this way, I am afraid it will cause too much criticism, and officials all over the world will be in panic. They will wonder whether the prince is going to restore the practices of Taizu, and whether Zhejiang is just the beginning. ? People are so panic-stricken that it will not be beneficial to the country’s affairs!”
Emperor Hongzhi did not expect this, "Prince, if we do this... pull out the carrots and bring out the mud, I am afraid that it will be more than just the few people Wang Hua told us. What will happen then?"
Zhu Houzhao is a person with clear goals.
His goal is to strengthen the country.
He could not accept that this land, which had once witnessed the mighty power of the Han and Tang Dynasties, was being beaten every day by the Tatars.
Therefore, there are some things that he does not fight about, such as how Liu Daxia handles things, but there are some things that he must fight for.
The main reason is to detect this kind of extremely bad eucalyptus. If he still exposes it lightly, it will be even more difficult for him to do a good job in officialdom!
So Zhu Houzhao solemnly saluted, "Father, if we don't do this, can the people's hearts be preserved?! I know that there are countless officials in the world who have embezzled more than 60 taels of silver, but those people and those things have not been exposed, and there have been no Being brought before the emperor, I think this should be the bottom line: as long as anyone or anything is found guilty of illegal things, the court must give an explanation. If the court cannot do justice for heaven, , then the people will have no choice but to rise up!"
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