Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 189 Training Plan for King of the Vassals

After the dispersal.

Civil and military officials withdrew from Fengtianmen in turn.

All the officials gathered together in twos and threes, talking about what was going to happen in the morning as they walked.

Fang Xiaoru, Xie Jin, Huang Huai and others came together naturally.

Xie Jin is young and energetic, and can't tolerate sand in his eyes, which is similar to Fang Xiaoru's temper.

He said with great dissatisfaction: "The minister of Dali Temple and the deputy censor Zuo are simply ridiculous. How can Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty be compared with the current His Majesty?"

"Taizong of the Tang Dynasty killed his brother and forced his father. Now, His Majesty has succeeded to the throne in accordance with the imperial edict of Emperor Taizu. Fundamentally speaking, it is completely different."

Huang Huai answered.

Fang Xiaoru stroked his beard and said: "But it is undeniable that Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was a genius of a generation who created the rule of Zhenguan. He also indeed cultivated an excellent successor. We cannot deny Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty's civil and military skills, even if he allowed Empress Wu to take power in his later years. , the two saints came to court. This was the beginning of the decline of the Tang Dynasty, and the source of the subsequent troubles in the Tang Dynasty."

"Yes, our advice to Your Majesty is to prevent the source of trouble. Many things must be nipped in the bud, otherwise the consequences will be endless."

Xie Jin said with a serious face.

Fang Xiaoru nodded and said: "It is to nip problems in the bud! I have always adhered to this point of view."

He looked around at the other cabinet advisers and said with high spirits: "I have decided to go see your Majesty again. I beg your Majesty to take back your order. If you are willing, we can go with you."

"We should go together." Xie Jin, Huang Huai and others said in unison.

Hu Guang and Yang Shiqi were silent.

In this way, the seven cabinet advisers, except Hu Guang and Yang Shiqi, the remaining five, headed by Fang Xiaoru, began to change their way towards Wuying Palace.

Since Zheng He's first voyage to the West, Wuying Palace has become the place where Zhu Di handled government affairs after his death.

As for Wenhua Hall, which was close to Chunhe Palace, it became Zhu Gaoxu's office.

After all, it was an honest move for Fang Xiaoru and the five of them to change their route to Wuying Palace. When other officials saw that the five of them changed their route, some upright people, such as Yu Shi Gui Zhan, stepped forward to stop them and asked, "May I ask some of the advisors what they want to do?"

"We have decided to jointly request to see His Majesty and strongly urge His Majesty to take back the mission of teaching the royal family's children how to be kings."

Xie Jin replied calmly.

"Let's go together!" Censor Guizhan said cheerfully.

Ever since, after other officials learned the news, more than thirty people rushed outside Wuying Hall and knelt behind Fang Xiaoru and others.

Although Li Xing and Changsheng who were on duty at the entrance of the palace were surprised to see this situation, they did not panic, but frowned slightly.

Li Xing said to Changsheng: "You watch these people here and don't cause any trouble. I will report to Your Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

After a moment, Li Xing walked out quickly. He said to Fang Xiaoru, the leader: "Advisor Fang, Your Majesty lets you in."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Fang Xiaoru was delighted when he heard this and immediately paid his respects.

Then, Li Xing led Fang Xiaoru into Wuying Hall.

But after the two entered the palace, a group of officials kneeling in front of the palace still had no intention of getting up and leaving.

"His Majesty has summoned Advisor Fang, please go back first."

Changsheng said loudly.

However, the officials ignored his words and continued to kneel where they were.

Changsheng saw that something was not right about the situation. Without waiting for Li Xing to come back, he bowed and walked into the hall, intending to report it.

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu happened to lead Fang Xiaoru out from inside and saw Changsheng coming towards him.

Changsheng immediately bowed and said: "Your Majesty, everyone outside the palace is still begging to see Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty has given the matter to Guquan to handle."

Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand and said, "Just step back."

"Yes." Changsheng bowed and stepped aside.

Zhu Gaoxu led Fang Xiaoru to the outside of the palace, looked down at the crowd and said: "The truth becomes clearer with each argument. Since you feel that His Majesty the Father's plan to teach the royal children how to be kings is bad governance and even the source of disaster. So, please follow me here." Wenhua Hall, I want to have a debate with you all."

"I am waiting to thank His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

Xie Jin, Huang Huai and others said respectfully.

Now that the emperor sent the prince to meet these people, he had given them a great deal of face, and they had to use the donkey to know how to advance and retreat.

Later, Zhu Gaoxu led Fang Xiaoru and others out of Wuying Gate without taking a chariot, and walked straight to the Youshun Gate in the east.

Zhao Junchen, Wei Xian and other guards who were guarding outside Wuying's gate immediately followed.

Although Zhu Gaoxu felt unhappy, he was somewhat relieved to see these thirty officials who dared to give direct advice.

Because these people at least reflect the character of the civil servants of the Yongle Dynasty.

Of course, some people may come here with the hope that they can become famous as long as they don't die.

And Zhu Gaoxu didn't intend to give this kind of fame-seeking person a chance to get ahead.

He turned to Zhao Junchen beside him and ordered: "Send someone to write down the names of these officials who are now alone, and then go back and investigate carefully to see who among these people is secretly engaging in illegal activities such as roosters and dogs."

"Yes." Zhao Junchen bowed and accepted the order.

When Zhu Gaoxu was speaking, Fang Xiaoru was following behind him, so Fang Xiaoru heard what he just said clearly.

He saw Fang Xiaoru frowning slightly, so he said, "Dr. Fang, I believe that if any of these officials violate the law and discipline, they will be dismissed and investigated, and they will never be hired."

At this time, everyone had passed through the Youshun Gate and walked to the square in front of the Inner Wulong Bridge.

Fang Xiaoru said, "Your Highness, is there something wrong with this move? If Jin Yiwei fabricates charges and wrongly accuses good people, won't the imperial court lose talents?"

Zhao Junchen also holds the position of Jin Yiwei Qianshi, so he said this.

Zhu Gaoxu retorted directly: "Sir, do you think that for the imperial court, is an official's virtue or talent more important?"

Fang Xiaoru replied without hesitation: "Of course morality is important."

Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said, "Sir, what you said is wrong."

Fang Xiaoru said curiously: "His Royal Highness, please make it clear."

Zhu Gaoxu said as he walked: "If we are in troubled times, then naturally only talents will act. After all, the first thing to do is to calm down the troubled times, and virtue should be placed after talent. Do you think so, sir?"

Fang Xiaoru had no choice but to nod and said: "What His Highness said is absolutely true. Although I insist that officials should put morality first, things have to be prioritized. In times of trouble, talent must be the first priority, because calming down the times is the most important thing. "

"Yes, sir, he is a sensible person. Therefore, Gu will never allow his ministers to seek fame and reputation. For such a person with corrupt morals, no matter how talented he is, Gu will not use it!" Zhu Gaoxu said: "It has been 35 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. The imperial examination The reform was implemented for another four years. Next year, there will be tens of thousands of candidates trained by the new imperial examination, and naturally there will be a large number of people with both talent and virtue. Therefore, I must depose those officials who are inconsistent with their appearance and have corrupt moral character. Do you think that the person with both ability and political integrity will vacate the position?"

Fang Xiaoru agreed: "Your Highness is right."

The two chatted briefly for a while, and then the group passed through the Zuoshun Gate and saw the Wenhua Gate from a distance.

Not long after, Zhu Gaoxu took the lead through the Wenhua Gate and then walked into the Wenhua Hall.

After he entered the hall, he went straight to the main seat and sat down.

In March of this year, when Zhu Di visited the north and Zhu Gaoxu was supervising the country, the layout of the Wenhua Hall had been simply modified.

After entering the hall, there is a long carpet with dozens of chairs on the left and right sides of the carpet. The end of the carpet is a three-story high platform. There is an imperial table on the high platform and a dragon chair behind the table.

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu was sitting on the dragon chair.

"Sir, please take a seat."

Zhu Gaoxu reached out and motioned for Fang Xiaoru to sit on the first chair on the lower left side of him.

Fang Xiaoru didn't delay and sat down immediately.

According to the Ming Dynasty's etiquette between emperors and ministers, the emperor or the prince offered a seat, and the minister could not refuse.

After Fang Xiaoru took his seat, more than 30 people accompanying him entered the hall one after another and greeted Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand and said: "All ministers, please sit down and talk."

As a result, all the officials looked for seats and sat down in order of rank.

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at everyone, and then shouted out the door: "Kang Ping, bring someone to serve tea to all the ministers."

Afterwards, he looked around at the crowd and said loudly: "I hope that the culture of truth becoming clearer and clearer can continue in the future. Only when the monarch and his ministers are united can the court's policies be thoroughly implemented and can we avoid the situation where grassroots officials are acting half-heartedly and doing things half-heartedly." .”

"Your Highness is wise."

All the officials said in unison.

After a while, Kang Ping led a group of maids and palace servants to bring the tea and placed it on the coffee table next to the officials in the palace.

"I have read all your memorials, and I can sum them up into two points."

Zhu Gaoxu said slowly: "First, the royal family's children should be trained according to Taizu's old system. Second, the royal family's children cannot learn the way to be a king."

"Just asking you, Emperor Taizu has said more than once that the court's policies must change as the world situation changes and cannot remain unchanged. Is that true?"

Seeing everyone's silence, he continued: "Since Emperor Taizu said this, then when Yongle implemented the New Deal, didn't he follow nature and follow people? Otherwise, wouldn't we be stubborn?"

All the ministers were silent.

"The so-called 'this time, that time', during the Hongwu period, there were only a few emperors and grandchildren, and most of them were young. Except for the princes who became feudal lords, the other young princes still lived in the palace and studied in the main hall. This is not true. It’s nothing.”

Zhu Gaoxu then asked: "But now the emperor's grandsons and young princes have gradually grown older. In a dozen years, the number of royal children will inevitably exceed a hundred. Do they still need to study in the main hall as before?"

"Moreover, Emperor Taizu changed the title of kings to establish kingdoms overseas. If the kings did not know how to govern the country, and when they went overseas, they could neither lead troops to fight nor govern the country, wouldn't they become a fatuous and incompetent king? How else to build barriers for the imperial court and protect the royal family?"

After what he said, many officials in the palace didn't know where to refute.

But Fang Xiaoru was a great scholar of the time and was familiar with all kinds of historical allusions.

He said respectfully: "Your Highness, time has changed and things have changed, and things have changed. Naturally, we have no objection to Your Majesty's training of the children of the royal family. What we object to is teaching the children of the royal family the art of emperorship. As the saying goes, there is no day in the sky, and the people There are no two masters. Only the emperor and the crown prince can learn the art of the emperor. How can the other princes and grandsons learn it?"

"Since the ministers are opposed to teaching the princes the way to be kings, I have a question: if the princes are not taught the way to be kings, how will the princes govern the country as kings in the future?"

Zhu Gaoxu retorted.

Fang Xiaoru replied unhurriedly: "The sage believes that the king should rule with dignity and obey his advice. The governance of the country is naturally the responsibility of the king's assistant officials. The king only needs to make clear rewards and punishments, and appoint wise men as assistant ministers. The country will be well governed."

Zhou Dynasty's "Shangshu·Wucheng": "Have faith and clear righteousness, respect virtue and reward merit, and rule the world."

Later generations used this allusion to derive the idiom "rule by hanging down the arch", which is a metaphor that the ruler can make the world peaceful even though he does nothing. It is often used to praise the emperor who rules without doing anything.

"Governing by doing nothing" does not mean doing nothing, but not interfering too much and giving full play to the creativity of the people. That is to say, governing the country with systems, using systems to constrain the behavior of subjects, and all subjects abide by the legal system.

Zhu Gaoxu asked again: "If you rule by hanging the arch, choose wise men and let them serve, and follow your advice, who is a wise man? Han Feizi believed that 'a wise man is a minister of others, and he has no two minds when making appointments to the north; the court dare not resign. You are humble, the army dare not refuse; you obey the superiors, follow the master's laws, and wait for orders with an open mind without right or wrong. Therefore, if you have a mouth, don't speak privately, if you have an eye, don't look privately, and control it from the top.' Do you think so?"

Fang Xiaoru replied: "I believe that a sage should be a person with both ability and political integrity."

"Han Feizi's statement is obviously wrong, because when a wise minister encounters a fatuous and confused king, he will be useless. After all, a fatuous king likes to use speculators and has no idea what a wise minister is. For a fatuous king, those who spend all day long are Ministers who give advice are very annoying. Good birds choose trees to live in, and wise ministers choose their masters to work. Therefore, it is very difficult to recognize people and make use of their talents."

Zhu Gaoxu said: "Mr. said that a sage is a person who has both virtue and talent. So what is virtue and what is talent? Where is the boundary between virtue and talent? If we talk about a butcher who doesn't know Chinese characters, he has noble character, picks up gold without ignorance, and is willing to do good. But can he be appointed as the county magistrate to govern the people of a county?"

As soon as these words came out, Fang Xiaoru was speechless.

However, he was a great scholar after all, and he quickly came up with a rebuttal idea.

"Your Highness, in the early Han Dynasty, there were allusions about Xiao Gui and Cao Sui. After thousands of years of accumulation and precipitation, our Chinese code system has been written down. Therefore, the standards of sages can be found in history books."

Zhu Gaoxu smiled and said: "According to what Mr. Fang said, can the art of emperors be understood in history books?"

What he said was indeed correct.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, history books were not something that ordinary people had the opportunity to read.

Until the Tang and Song Dynasties, as printing gradually became popular all over the world, and even movable type printing came out, scholars at the bottom had the opportunity to read a few history books.

"This is natural." Fang Xiaoru said respectfully.

He must admit that Zhu Gaoxu is right. After all, this is also recognized by the academic community. Otherwise, what is the significance of "Zi Zhi Tong Jian"?

"Sir said that the art of emperors can only be learned by emperors and princes. But before, my father asked me to explain the "Zizhi Tongjian" to me. Does that mean that you took the opportunity to learn the art of emperors?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked in a deep voice.

"I dare not."

Fang Xiaoru quickly stood up, knelt on the ground and worshiped.

Zhu Gaoxu said quickly: "Sir, please get up quickly. I have no intention of asking any questions."

After Fang Xiaoru stood up and sat down, he looked around at everyone in the hall and asked loudly: "Who else has objections?"

"I am reporting to His Highness the Crown Prince, but I object."

Xie Jin stood up and saluted.

Zhu Gaoxu was not angry either, and raised his hand to signal Xie Jin to sit down and talk.

After Jie Jin sat down, he continued: "Tell me the reasons for your objection."

PS: Thank you brothers for your support!
(End of this chapter)