Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2352: Fortunately in Nanjing (XIX) Minister's Hope

Things have come to this point, and the power struggle in the form of the palace renovation case has already entered garbage time on the factual level.

The great unity of the School of Mind that Shen had always expected was indeed realized, but he thought that the nobles of the Jingnan clique would be able to firmly align with the School of Mind because of their many years of "cooperation" and thus create a good situation in which the two factions would join forces to fight against the encirclement and suppression of the School of Practical Learning. However, this plan ended in complete failure.

Although the sources of power for nobles and officials are both the emperor, their ways of obtaining power are completely different. These hereditary nobles obtain power based on their ancestors' achievements and personal status. For example, Xu Hongji's ancestor is Xu Da, and he is the eldest son of his father. So he was born to inherit the title of Duke of Wei. As long as he does not commit suicide, the title of Duke of Wei will be his.

It is different for idle officials. No matter how capable and meritorious your ancestors are, as long as you fail to pass the imperial examination, everything will be in vain - unless you are willing to grant favors to those idle officials who are just idling around.

How can we say that there are some officials who are doing well and are not far from the central government. For example, Gao Wushi's younger brother, Gao Gong's adopted son Gao Wuguan, was a sixth-rank official of the Shangbao Department, which is the highest standard for civil officials, but he does not need to think about promotion in his lifetime.

Originally, there were Shangbao Si Shaoqing and Shangbao Siqing above Shangbao Si Cheng, but these two positions belonged to the "officials in the hall" of Shangbao Si and could not be appointed by officials with hereditary privileges, but only by Jinshi. Therefore, no matter how well Gao Wuguan did, or how powerful his brother Gao Wushi was, Gao Wuguan could not be promoted. Shangbao Si Cheng or officials of the same level in various ministries and yamen were his peak.

Of course, if he resigned and went to southern Xinjiang, the situation would be different, but there is no need to discuss this in detail.

In short, hereditary nobles are "natural nobles". As long as they don't cause trouble to the point that the emperor thinks that if he doesn't deal with you, the whole country will be in chaos, then your life will not be bad. Although there is a ceiling for you to be a certain governor of the Five Military Governors' Office, your lower limit is high! Therefore, as long as the nobles are not stupid, they usually won't confront the emperor.

On the contrary, they dared to confront anyone except the emperor. For example, Zhang Weixian, the seventh Duke of Yingzhou who inherited the title in the middle and late Wanli period, dared to completely ignore Wei Zhongxian, who was known as the 9,000-year-old. When Wei Zhongxian heard from his subordinates that the Duke of Yingzhou had humiliated him in public, he hesitated for a long time and finally said forget it - as long as the other party did not rebel, no matter how powerful you were, you could only watch helplessly. This was the power of the ancestors.

However, although the nobles have their own dodge buff, they dare not fight against the civil service group. For example, when Gao Youshi was still the military minister of the Ministry of War, the nobles were very polite to him. This is not because Gao Youshi was awesome because he was in charge of the Beijing Camp, but because Gao Youshi was already a well-known leader of the Practical School at that time.

The nobles were not afraid of Gao Youshi personally, but they were afraid that the large group of the Practical Learning School within the civil service would come up and start a fight - if there were dozens of impeachment memorials a day, no noble could handle it, and even if they would not necessarily lose their titles, they would certainly be summoned by the emperor and severely reprimanded, and it was hard to say what the outcome would be. Therefore, it was better to have less trouble than more, and it was always right to be polite to Gao Youshi.

Back to the civil officials, they were not afraid of the nobles, but were easily restricted by the eunuchs who were particularly favored by the emperor. This was actually a triangular relationship: the emperor needed the military officials to act as a knife to intimidate the world, and he also needed the civil officials to restrict the military officials to prevent them from threatening the imperial power in turn, so he needed to create another force to restrict the civil officials, so he introduced the eunuchs as white gloves to specifically attack the civil officials.

Since the eunuchs' "natural mission" is to attack civil officials, the emperor will not tolerate them attacking the nobles blindly, so the nobles can in turn treat the eunuchs as slaves... Once this cycle is formed, the emperor himself is removed from the situation and can balance the power balance among the three at any time, keeping himself in the most transcendent position and becoming the final arbiter.

The three of you go play the game of snake biting tail. Whoever wants to gain the upper hand must come to me for help. This is the fundamental logic of this power game, and it is also the reason why the Duke of Yingguo could ignore Wei Zhongxian, but the nobles of the Jingnan clique had to curry favor with Gao Youshi.

Of course, there are also great people who break this logic. For example, when Chongzhen came to power, he not only supported Wei Zhongxian, but also directly supported the eunuchs, a power faction, so he had to rush to the front line himself. The number of civil officials he killed was almost as many as Zhu Yuanzhang, but it was a pity that it was useless. Apart from making the civil officials gradually start to be in Cao's camp but their hearts were with Han, and once the situation was unfavorable, they would turn to Li Zicheng or even the Qing Dynasty. Chongzhen, the holy emperor, did not get anything good.

So, although Jiajing had many faults, he had one point in mind: if you ask him what Tao is, he will say, "I came to ask Tao Wu Yu, and he said, 'Clouds are in the blue sky, and water is in the bottle.'" This means that you should do what you are in your position, which is what is said in the Book of Changes: Gen: "Thinking does not go beyond one's position."

Chongzhen just didn't understand this principle and insisted on breaking the logic of the operation of power. Therefore, people in the world who were interested had to reset the logic of the operation of power through physical means.

Gao Youshi's reform measures were many, but they were all carried out within the normal operation of the power system. For example, when he was the military minister, he carried out the reform of the Beijing military camp, when he was the minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he carried out the financial reform, and when he became the chief minister, he began to adjust the political structure of the court... When he was taking the imperial examination, his main text was the Book of Changes, so he naturally knew the principle of "thinking within one's position", but he often did things within the framework of "not going beyond one's position".

The Nanjing Imperial Palace Renovation Case was essentially Gao Yousi's way of adjusting the political landscape by using an engineering scandal as an excuse. His purpose was to use the remaining power of the Confucius Temple Incident that the emperor had previously created to completely suppress the School of Mind, create a trend of practical learning in power in the court, and pave the way for the final reform.

To outsiders, Gao Youshi's actions were nothing more than a monopoly of government. Although this was true, it was not entirely true. Monopoly of government was only a means, not an end. What he wanted was to continue reforms, and not just a specific reform - including the reform of the imperial examination system.

No specific reform can be considered Gao Yousi's ultimate goal. His fundamental purpose is so great that people of this era cannot see it or imagine it at all. Even if Gao Yousi told them in person, they might not understand it.

What does he want to do? He wants to change the vicious cycle of "ruling just for the sake of ruling" in previous Chinese dynasties and replace it with an infinite extension of "ruling for the sake of social development".

Later generations often say that the only thing that feudal dynasties care about is how to continue their rule. Every dynasty will summarize the lessons of the previous dynasty, but they often fall into a similar cycle of order and chaos. For example, the Qin Dynasty fell because of its strictness, and the Han Dynasty fell because of its leniency; the Tang Dynasty fell because of its feudal lords, and the Song Dynasty fell because of its weak military...

Although in general, the political system has made some progress over time, the fundamental purpose is wrong and it cannot escape this rut. When the highest goal of a dynasty is to continue its rule, it is inevitable that it will be afraid of any change, and even choose to restore the past when faced with certain situations - such as Zhu Yuanzhang's system of enfeoffment of his sons.

However, Gao Youshi believes that there is no way out. His original classic is the Book of Changes, and the core idea he gets from reading the Book of Changes is actually just one sentence: the world is always changing, so people must constantly change themselves to adapt to the changes in the world.

However, the principle is easy to understand, but the matter is difficult to deal with. How do you observe the changes in the world? What has changed in the world and how much has it changed? How should you change yourself and how much should you change to adapt to this change?

Gao Fusi certainly thought a lot about it, and his final conclusion was: the above problems are difficult, so why not let "I" be the biggest change. I will change first, so others will have to change with me.

In terms of the court's governance, it means that I am the one who is constantly reforming and developing. Then I am the greatest force for change, and all countries in the world can only adapt to me by following my changes.

This principle is just like the British Industrial Revolution, when productivity began to crush countries around the world, so countries had no choice but to follow suit and began to compete for the "right to change", thereby driving the world to develop faster and faster.

However, in Gao Gongshi's view, Britain is actually very "unworthy of its position". This country lacks great virtue in morality, and its strength is small and its people are few, which is actually not enough to form a solid world order. It has maintained its hegemony for two hundred years (not four hundred years) by relying on the power of the Industrial Revolution and the blood and tears of its vast colonies, but it will eventually come to a dead end and be lost among the nations. To truly form a stable world system, its core country must have three prerequisites: vast territory, great race, and unity.

To put it simply: rich resources, a large population, and a common desire across the country.

Regardless of what will happen in the future, Gao Youshi looked around the world today and found that the only country that could have this foundation was the Ming Dynasty. The so-called three great treasures of the world in the future: North America, Europe, and East Asia, let's not talk about how they were gradually formed, just at this moment - Europe is used to being divided and there is no possibility of unification; America, the colonists have just arrived, development has just started, and the population is extremely sparse.

  On the other hand, the Ming Dynasty was the peak of the agricultural era, with an average grain yield per mu more than three times that of Europe, and a population four times that of the entire Europe. [Note: These are the mainstream views of Western academia, that is, the total population of Europe in the early 6100th century was about 40 million, while the total population of the late Ming Dynasty at this time was "more than 80 million"; the grain yield per mu in Europe was 200-250 jin (units have been converted), and the grain yield per mu in the Ming Dynasty was - jin.]

Under such conditions, and since Gao Youshi's preliminary reforms had basically been successfully completed, he began to ponder how to "govern all nations while ruling China". Is there any problem with this?

In his view, as long as the imperial court changes its thinking and begins to regard development as the correct path to continue its rule and continuously promotes the progress of social productivity, then the Ming Dynasty will be the true "chosen country" and there will be no "other".

A few days later, as the investigation deepened, more and more officials involved in the case were exposed. Most of these officials belonged to the School of Mind. They were either actively involved or passively involved in the Nanjing Imperial Palace renovation case, but without exception, they all had problems to varying degrees.

  After careful review and discussion, the court finally decided to classify and deal with these officials involved in the case as a warning to others. The treatment options are roughly divided into four levels:

Demotion to the Western Regions: Officials who were deeply involved but still had room for improvement were demoted and transferred to the Western Regions to participate in local construction and management. Although these people had made mistakes, they were given a chance to reform themselves in consideration of their abilities and contributions to the court.

Guandai Xianzhu: For officials who were involved in general cases but were no longer suitable to continue their original posts, their official posts were stripped, but their honorary "guandai" was retained, and they were ordered to return home to live in idleness. Although these people made mistakes, the nature of their mistakes was not serious, so they were given the opportunity to reflect and retire.

Dismissal from office and demote to civilian status: For officials who are involved in serious crimes and no longer need to continue to serve as officials or even retain their reputation, they will be directly dismissed from their official positions and demoted to civilians. These people have clearly made mistakes, and the nature of their mistakes is serious, causing certain harm, and the court will no longer retain their official status.

Never re-employ: For officials who are deeply involved in extremely bad behavior, not only will they be dismissed from their posts, but they will also be blacklisted and never re-employed. The mistakes of these people are serious and have caused great damage to the court, so they must be severely punished.

According to statistics, there were a total of 41 officials above the seventh rank involved in this case, of whom eight were demoted to the Western Regions, twelve were kept idle, fifteen were dismissed from their posts and became commoners, and six were never reappointed.

This result caused a great shock in the court and the public. Although 41 people is not too few, it is not too many either. But this is just a project corruption case, and the scope of involvement is not large. If it were normal, dealing with three or five people would be enough. However, this time, instead of dealing with a few people, all the officials involved were swept away, and the priorities were clearly distinguished. This shows how much the court attaches importance to it and how high the standard of response is.

After dealing with the officials involved, Gao Youshi was summoned to the Qianqing Palace again. Zhu Yijun fully affirmed his handling of the case, but also reminded him that he had been away from Beijing for a long time and had received many memorials urging him to return to Beijing.

Gao Youshi originally thought that Zhu Yijun would want to stay in Nanjing for a long time, or even take the opportunity to visit other places, as it was rare for him to leave the capital. It was unexpected that he would take the initiative to mention returning to the capital. However, Gao Youshi was not a flatterer after all, and he immediately said that the emperor could return to the capital at any time, and the cabinet would quickly make corresponding arrangements.

Afterwards, Gao Youshi secretly went to Chen Ju to find out what happened. Chen Ju seemed a little embarrassed and finally said a few ambiguous words. Gao Youshi understood that the emperor was not in good health...According to Chen Ju's description, it seemed that the climate in Nanjing was more likely to cause the emperor's gout to relapse.

Now the case has been solved. Gout is more likely to occur in the south than in the north, and the pain during an attack is also much greater in the south than in the north. Zhu Yijun originally suffered from gout, and he had attacks from time to time in Beijing. Now that he has come to Nanjing, he must be suffering from it.

As for why Chen Ju couldn't speak out, it was simple - the emperor's health condition was a highly sensitive issue and in principle could not be disclosed at will. The reason why he could tell Gao Youshi a little was because Gao Youshi, as the chief minister, could not be completely ignorant of the emperor's health condition.

As the investigation and handling of the Nanjing Imperial Palace renovation case gradually came to an end, the court's attention once again turned to the situation in the Western Regions while the emperor prepared to return north. Liu Jing's army had already launched a rebellion suppression operation in the Western Regions, and Gao Youshi was also actively preparing logistical and financial support to ensure the smooth progress of the rebellion suppression operation.

At the same time, Gao Youshi did not forget to rectify the officialdom in Nanjing, eliminate the influence of the Xinxue School, and ensure the dominant position of the Shixue School. In the process, he also did not forget to communicate and coordinate with the nobles in Nanjing to ensure their loyalty to the court and their support for the large-scale transfer of Shixue School officials to the south.

Thanks to Gao Youshi's efforts, the situation in Nanjing gradually stabilized, and the suppression of the rebellion in the Western Regions was also progressing steadily. Zhu Yijun repeatedly affirmed Gao Youshi's work and gave him more and more food, but at the same time he also urged him to make arrangements for his return to the north.

About half a month later, on the day before the emperor returned north, Gao Shishi submitted a memorial entitled "Please Use Juren to Strengthen the Western Regions". The full text is as follows:

Your Highness, respectfully reports:

I have heard that the emperor treats the border areas like his brothers and sisters protect their leaders. He always first builds governance to keep the people safe. Now that the Western Regions have been incorporated into the territory, rebellions have arisen and the people are not at peace. This is truly a concern for the court. I think that apart from war, civil governance is even more urgent, so I dare to speak up and hope that Your Majesty will look after me.

Since the recovery of the Western Regions, the imperial power has spread far and wide, but there are few officials and the governance is not thorough, which is the reason for the chaos. I humbly believe that if we want to seek peace in the Western Regions, we must first establish the foundation of governance, and the establishment of this foundation requires wise officials.

Looking at the current situation, there are many vacancies in the Western Regions, especially for people with real abilities. Because the border areas are bitter and cold, only those with ambition will go there. Therefore, I dare to ask Your Majesty to open up more channels for selecting people to be appointed officials, and encourage people with ambition to go to the border areas to serve as officials, so as to fill the vacancies in the bureaucracy and consolidate the foundation of governance.

I ask Your Majesty to issue a clear decree throughout the country that all candidates who are interested in serving in the border areas will be given official positions by the court, and that those serving in the border areas will have better opportunities for transfer than those in the Central Plains. This will not only solve the urgent problem of official vacancies, but also boost the morale of scholars and cultivate the pillars of the country.

I also request that the court should increase the cultural benefits in the Western Regions, build schools, promote education, promote the transformation of people's customs, and reduce the causes of chaos.

I know that this proposal is not easy to implement, but I firmly believe that with your Majesty's wise decision and unity of purpose, there is nothing that cannot be overcome and nothing that cannot be accomplished.

  Your servant Gao Youshi is extremely terrified and bows his head a hundred times. I hereby report this to you.
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PS: This chapter was written yesterday, because I sprained my ankle while running at night, so I went home, took a shower and went to bed, so it was delayed until today. But I did update a little more...