"I thank your Majesty!"
Hai Rui picked up the bowl and waited for the emperor to start drinking before drinking himself.
After drinking a bowl of strong wine, the coldness of winter and the sadness of the past few days disappeared together with the depression.
“What a great wine!”
Zhu Zaijing smiled, stood up and poured another bowl for Hai Rui.
"This wine is said to be old wine that has been hidden in the palace for thirty years. I don't know whether it is true or not. Anyway, the late emperor drank it a few times and thought it would be good, so he brought it to you. Ahem..."
Hai Rui raised his head worriedly, and the emperor noticed his thoughts. He coughed and waved his hand to indicate that he was okay.
"I can't drink...ahem...I can't drink...wine"
"But I must have a drink today! One is to remember the past, and the other is to welcome tomorrow!"
"In a few days it will be the first year of Longqing, a new dynasty, a new year and a new world. I hope we can all say goodbye to all the unpleasantness in the past and continue to work hard to create a new future!"
Hai Rui held up the bowl and nodded firmly after hearing the emperor's words.
Just as Hai Rui gave Zhu Zaijing an inexplicable sense of solidity, Hai Rui also felt vitality and an indescribable sense of warmth from the new emperor.
Every word of the emperor was spoken very softly, but it still gave people a sense of unquestionable authority and warm intimacy.
Hai Rui felt that the new emperor would definitely create a new era!
After drinking, the atmosphere became more relaxed, and after the two chatted about home affairs, Zhu Zaijing began to arrange work for Hai Rui.
"Gangfeng, I promoted you to the right minister of the Ministry of Punishment, and also gave you the position of the censor of the right capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Do you know why I am like this?"
"Your Majesty, please give me your instructions!"
"Right Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, I hope you will investigate all the unjust, false and wrong cases of the previous dynasty. Although many of them are no longer here, they deserve the truth!"
Hai Rui nodded, fully convinced of this.
The party struggle in the Jiajing Dynasty was fierce, and there was no telling how many people had fallen victim to various unjust, false, and wrongful convictions, and various slanderous and slanderous charges. Zhu Zaijing did not even have to think about it, and there were definitely many of them.
Reorganizing the court and restoring the distorted atmosphere of the court starts from these unjust, false and wrong cases!
Only by leaving this work to Hai Rui can he rest assured.
"Second, as you know, the right censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate is in charge of Yan Guan, but now Yan Guan has deviated from his original intention!"
"I deeply agree!" Hai Rui nodded, "If the emperor makes a mistake, any minister can advise him. That is not the prerogative of the imperial censor!"
"That's right!" Zhu Zaijing said, "The Yan Guan was originally set up to help the emperor supervise and inspect hundreds of officials. But what about the current Yan Guan? They always find fault with the emperor, and the emperor's every move is not polite. If you don’t follow the tradition, you should remonstrate.”
"And he's proud to give his advice to the death! It's obviously a trivial matter, but he insists on making it so serious that no one can step down, and he also forces the emperor to adopt his own advice. Is this still true? This is the establishment of the Yushi Yanguan The original intention?”
In the final analysis, this situation is the reason why the civil servants have become bigger. The officials, an institution that was supposed to help the emperor find fault with all the officials, instead became a means for the civil servants to restrain the emperor. It is really hateful.
So it was difficult for the emperor to do something in the late Ming Dynasty.
It seems that the emperor's power is not small, and he can appoint and remove whomever he wants. However, no matter how the emperor chooses, the person who takes the position will be one of the same group of people, and this person cannot betray the civil servants to advance or retreat with the emperor.
Therefore, one family must never be the dominant one in the court. It must have the strength of all parties to be able to use it effectively, and not be monolithic and have trouble with the emperor.
Because of this, in the late Ming Dynasty, more and more emperors were simply ruined. Anyway, I can't do anything. You are in charge of every move, so you can just go and have fun.
This trend must be reversed!
Hai Rui is the key to reversing this trend!
"So I hope that after you take office as the Metropolitan Procuratorate, you will rectify this atmosphere and take good care of the officials below."
"I don't want them to criticize and discipline every move I make. Do you understand what I mean?"
"I understand that I will live up to your majesty's trust!"
If other people had said this, Zhu Zaijing would have been dubious, but when Hai Rui said this, he imagined that Hai Rui would definitely do it.
Hai Rui has many roles and will be very big. Zhu Zaijing wishes he could have another Hai Rui, one at the central level and one at the local level, so that he would not worry about the failure of his policies to be implemented.
In fact, people like Hai Rui are not perfect in reality. For example, he also divorced his wife and took concubines in history. As for starving his daughter to death, that is completely unofficial history.
How does Hai Rui treat his mother?
It can be said that he is a filial son according to Confucian standards!
How could someone so filial to his mother starve his own child to death?
Do you know how difficult it was for Hai Rui to have a queen in history?
All three sons died in infancy!
Haigangfeng had five concubines throughout his life, but unfortunately none of them had any heirs!
If Hai Rui really had a child, he would hold it in the palm of his hand and pamper her. How could he starve to death?
Maybe Hai Rui had some health problems, and Li Shizhen had to make a prescription for Hai Rui to have a child after she returned to the palace.
Zhu Zaijing did not want this good official who had worked hard for the country and the people all his life to have no heirs in this time and space.
"Hai Rui! I have to ask you a question."
"Excuse me, Your Majesty."
"I know that you are loyal to the people but not the emperor. In other words, in your eyes, the people are more important than the emperor. I think so in my heart."
"What I want to ask is, if I do something that you can't quite understand, or even something that goes against your beliefs, will you support me?"
Hai Rui lowered his head and thought for a few seconds.
"I am a minister. Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven. Your thoughts must be at a level beyond my reach. His Majesty's understanding of the world, the Ming Dynasty, and the people must be more comprehensive and detailed than I am."
"But as long as it is beneficial to the people and can benefit the people, I will firmly support His Majesty no matter how hard I understand!"
"What if it goes against the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, the words of the saints?"
Zhu Zaijing interrupted Hai Rui and looked into his eyes and asked.
There was a lot of shock and doubt in the latter's eyes.
"Your Majesty, the words of the saints and the way of Confucius and Mencius are not wrong! As long as your majesty follows the ways of Confucius and Mencius to govern the country and build up one's character according to the words of the saints, you will not be wrong!"
Zhu Zaijing was not surprised by this answer, because in this era, the words of saints are the common values of the entire Ming Dynasty, that is, the unchanging truth, and the truth that can explain everything.
These students who passed the imperial examination have studied Confucian classics all their lives and will never question their words.
"I know that the teachings of Confucius and Mencius are right, but in life, haven't you found that some of the words of saints are somewhat unreasonable?"
Hai Rui shook his head in confusion.
"Forget it! I'm just asking casually." Zhu Zaijing stood up with a wry smile, "But today I got your determination to firmly support me. This is my biggest gain!"
"I'll leave first. You have a day off tomorrow and start working in the palace the day after tomorrow!"
