Wanli Xinming

Chapter 430 Southern Tour (XIV)

In mid-April of the 16th year of the Wanli reign, the emperor stayed at the Confucius Mansion. During the lecture, the discussions were recorded by the accompanying reporters and spread from Shandong to the whole country through newspapers.

On the third day of the sixth lunar month, the emperor went to Huai'an to worship the ancestral tombs, inspect water conservancy, and study the plan to move the ancestral tombs. At this time, the upper class of the empire was well aware of the saying of "modern saints", and the emperor's intention to move the ancestral tombs to protect the people's livelihood in Jianghuai was also widely known.

When the people of the nine counties and two states of Huai'an heard that the emperor wanted to move the ancestral tomb to protect the people, they all shed tears of gratitude. Those who had extra money wanted to build a shrine for the emperor. The Jinyiwei reported the news, saying, "The emperor is the master of gods and men, and we don't know the etiquette and law for building a shrine for him."

The emperor read the memorial while on duty and urgently summoned the governor of Jianghuai to stop it, so as to prevent the people from wasting money. When the people heard about it, they urged the court to allow the construction. The Tongzhengsi received more than a hundred memorials from the people every day requesting the construction of the ancestral temple. Newspapers in various places all urged the court to listen to the people's opinions and meet the people's need for respect for the emperor.

The cabinet minister Shen Shixing suggested that the emperor's portrait be printed and offered to the people at home to appease the people's hearts and minds. The emperor was pleased with the idea. Thus, from the 16th year of the Wanli reign, the emperor's portrait gradually spread all over the country. Compared with the God of Wealth, the Kitchen God, and the Door God, the emperor's portrait was treated better and was usually placed in the main hall of the people's home.

As the emperor's carriage moved southward, his prestige grew, and the people of Jiangnan were all proud to receive him. Wherever the emperor's carriage passed, the people would gather around him, hoping to catch a glimpse of his face. Liang Menglong and others were troubled by various security issues.

In every prefecture where the emperor stayed, the people there stretched their necks to their backs in fear, and if they were unable to get a place to receive the emperor, the officials would be criticized by the people - their policies must have been not to the emperor's liking, otherwise why wouldn't the emperor pass through our prefectures and counties?

As for the scholars' views on the "modern sage" theory, there was a great controversy. Those who agreed said that the emperor not only summarized and developed the thoughts of Chinese ancient philosophers with the "Three Essays", but also promoted the theory of investigating things to explain all things - this is a capability that only sages can possess. For example, the study of things used a prism to explain the composition of light, and medicine used a microscope to explain the mechanism of bacterial disease, which were all the achievements of the modern sage in promoting the study of things.

Opponents said that the emperor's three theories did not break away from the clichés of the ancient sages. The so-called theory of practice can be highly summarized by Confucius's "learning and practicing it from time to time", which is nothing more than "knowledge and action complement each other for use"; the so-called theory of contradiction is nothing more than the development of "new and old". Only the "theory of movement" with proof in the University made people at that time feel refreshed about the philosophical proposition of "absolute movement" - but can it be compared with Confucius? Let's wait until the emperor is finally judged.

The articles discussing these issues in newspapers all over the country made readers confused for a while. As the saying goes, "The virtue of a gentleman is like the wind, while the virtue of a villain is like grass. The wind will bend the grass." Although the emperor advocated that everyone should be taught, for the "gentlemen" who could publish articles in newspapers, they were like this: We are discussing philosophy, and you just need to shut up and wait.

But Shen Shixing took action. When the emperor was about to arrive in Nanjing, the court issued an official document requiring all schools and lecture halls to hang the emperor's portrait and include the emperor's doctrine in the compulsory curriculum. In his spare time, the emperor also discussed historical materialism, dialectical materialism, cosmology, evolution and other contents with Shen Shixing.

Although he had only a small part, Shen Shixing led the Hanlin Academy, and there were great scholars who argued for the emperor. They dug up ancient texts from ancient times to the present that corresponded to the emperor's thoughts, showing that the emperor's thoughts originated from ancient times and were revitalized and developed, and his words were simple and profound. Because the matter was of great importance, Zhu Yijun had to focus a lot of his energy on this aspect, and he could be said to have devoted all his energy to it.

On the other hand, the emperor also issued instructions to the Royal Academy of Sciences to organize geographical, archaeological and biological expedition teams to search the world for physical evidence that could prove the emperor's theory. But once a discovery was made, the court's propaganda machine would be mobilized to repeatedly prove the rationality of his theory.

For a time, Shen Shixing's favor grew day by day, and he became extremely popular. Liang Menglong was panicked, and led the political reform team to study new political reform plans day and night, and discussed them with the emperor whenever he had the chance. Seeing Shen and Liang like this, Xu Guo did more of the work of reviewing and answering memorials, and he was not much inferior to them in terms of favor.

In July of the 16th year of the Wanli reign, Pan Sheng retired due to illness and was granted the second-class earldom. The emperor gave him a letter with the words "rest assured" and allowed him to travel by post. The Political Affairs Hall was again short of people. After careful consideration and consultation with Liang Menglong, Zhu Yijun recommended Wang Xijue to the Political Affairs Hall.

At this time, the emperor was in Suzhou. After Wang Xijue entered the cabinet, he was given a half-month leave by the emperor for his service as an imperial escort, so that he could show off to his fellow townsmen.

As the most important county in the country, Suzhou has paid about one-tenth of all the money, grain and taxes to the court since the Ming Dynasty. The emperor allowed Wang Xijue to join the cabinet and gave him leave, which greatly boosted the morale of this economic powerhouse that had long been overwhelmed. Although Wang Xijue tried his best to keep a low profile, the whole city of Suzhou was still shocked. Not to mention the joy in Wang Xijue's home, the whole city of Suzhou was decorated with lights and colors because of the emperor's kindness.

Zhu Yijun spent two days in Suzhou. When he met with the prefect, he bestowed the name "Haohao Gusu" on him to commend the achievements of Suzhou Prefecture after the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, the emperor, with a stroke of his pen, reduced all the arrears over the years, thus eliminating at the root the possibility of the government using the arrears to oppress the landlords in Suzhou - after all, these arrears had been owed for more than a hundred years and could no longer be collected.

In August, when the sweet osmanthus is fragrant, the Weiwei Imperial City in Nanjing, which covers an area of ​​more than 1,500 acres, once again welcomed the master of the empire.

Zhu Yijun was the first emperor to visit Nanjing since Emperor Wuzong's southern tour. The octogenarians in Jiangnan still vaguely remember that Emperor Wuzong's southern tour brought back the fear rooted in their childhood.

From the time when Emperor Wuzong harassed and extorted people at will, the people of Jiangnan probably formed a vague concept that perhaps the emperor himself was evil and absurd. He was not the people's loving father, but on the contrary - he was a vicious villain, and perhaps it would be better without him.

Now these concepts have been redefined. During the emperor's southern tour, apart from the occasional road blockade, he did not disturb the locals. On the contrary, whenever he visited a place, he often exempted local taxes and sent a large number of officials to preach his benevolent policies.

So, when the gate of the magnificent palace was opened again and the emperor's carriage entered to the sound of ceremonial music, some of the onlookers actually had tears in their eyes and shouted "Long live the emperor!" incessantly.

At the request of Shen Shixing, the emperor accepted the worship of Nanjing citizens on the Hongwu Gate Tower. The people of Nanjing then saw the latest statue of the god with a twelve-tassel crown and twelve chapters embroidered on the skirt.

The emperor stayed on the city wall for a while, raised his arms and waved them from left to right several times, which excited the crowd so much that they seemed to explode, and the shouts of "Long live the emperor" reached the sky.

When he walked down the tower, Zhu Yijun suppressed his turbulent emotions and said to Liang Menglong and other ministers who accompanied him: "The Chinese people are the easiest to satisfy. If the court cannot do even the smallest things within its responsibility, it should first feel guilty towards them. If they are treated harshly because they are easily satisfied, they should be expelled and replaced with others."

All the ministers accompanying the emperor agreed with great awe.

Zhu Yijun then said to the prince solemnly: "Although you were standing on the tower just now, as if you were at a high place, you must know in your heart that the people are the most precious. If the emperor does not know the principle of 'people are the most important, the country is second, and the emperor is the least important', then he will lead the entire country into decline."

The prince had just seen the scene of the crowd cheering, and he also answered with excitement: "I remember it clearly."

(End of this chapter)