I have a cornucopia

Chapter 227 The Right to Interpret Scripture

Lushan.

"You are taking sides!"

Li Zicheng looked at Yang Feng and said.

Of course, he didn't care about this. After all, Yang Feng was just pretending to be a reasonable person and was actually taking sides.

It would be strange if you didn't take sides.

This is already the second round of negotiations...

Of course, it cannot be considered a negotiation. It should be that Prince Yang is mediating the conflict between the people of Jiangxi and the King of Qin again, and this time Duke Yansheng is also involved. So at this moment Duke Yansheng is sitting next to Yang Feng, while on the side of the Jiangxi Elders Association are Jiang Yueguang and the Jiangxi Governor Kuang Zhao who served as the escort.

"How can this be considered taking sides? I was only ordered to recruit the shanty dwellers. It has nothing to do with your fighting. As for the covenant signed between the shanty dwellers and the Council of Elders, it is their folk covenant. After the shanty dwellers accepted the recruitment, they became citizens of Jiangxi. It is normal for them to choose to take the same stand as the Council of Elders as they are citizens of Jiangxi, just like the shanty dwellers headed by Zhu Yiwu accepted the recruitment of the King of Qin and chose to obey the King of Qin's orders.

public opinion.

It's all public opinion.

So we should still respect public opinion.

My suggestion is that everyone should stop fighting, after all, war is never good.

Then we will maintain the status quo. At the same time, according to the idea proposed by the King of Qin before, we will select a group of people from the civilian, military, business and craftsman registers in Jiangxi, and they will be entrusted by the people to hold the meeting in Nanchang under the supervision of Duke Yansheng and me.

Decide whether to accept the King of Qin.

If public opinion does not want the King of Qin to go south, then please ask the King of Qin to withdraw all the troops currently in Jiangxi.

Including Zhu Yiwu's tribe.

If public opinion supports the King of Qin's march south, then we must naturally respect public opinion.

As for Nanzhili and other provinces, this method can also be used to decide, and even all provinces in the future can do so. After all, public opinion is the most important. Even if your majesty issues an imperial decree, you cannot ignore public opinion. Duke Yansheng, this specific theoretical basis still needs your explanation. "

Yang Feng turned around and said.

Duke Yansheng had no choice but to take out the previous letter to the people of the world under Li Zicheng's half-smiled gaze, and explain to Li Zicheng the theoretical basis of this thing by citing classics. Of course, they drank a lot and wrote it casually, so this kind of thing must be a rumor. This is the result of the efforts of dozens of great Confucian scholars, relying on the classics of sages, and summarizing the remarks of many wise ministers in history. The people are the most important, the emperor is the least important, the country is the second, and the people are the most important to the Ming Dynasty. The reason why the Ming Dynasty has been in turmoil until now is because the previous court violated this supreme principle of putting the people first.

Your Majesty must be wrong.

I believe that His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin will admit this.

After all, if Your Majesty is not wrong, why did you rebel back then?
It is because your majesty and the court did something wrong that you led your brothers to rebel. There is nothing wrong with your rebellion itself. It is your majesty and the court that are wrong. It is also because you do not realize that the people are the most important that the court continues to suppress you...

This is all wrong.

"I told you, we were right back then. How could we not rebel when we were starving to death?"

A general behind Li Zicheng said excitedly.

Li Zicheng turned around and glared at him.

The latter quickly shut up.

However, he and the officers and soldiers who followed him were listening very carefully. It was obvious that this explanation touched the softest part of their hearts. After all, these old bandits still longed to be recognized and wash away the shame of being thieves.

"Yes, the general is right. It was the court that was wrong before, not you. You were almost starving to death, so you naturally had reason to rebel, but you can't say you were rebelling, you were just trying to survive. Your Majesty was deceived by treacherous ministers and didn't understand the principle that the people are the most important. He sent troops to suppress the rebellion time and time again, which led to the continuous disasters and gave the Jianlu an opportunity to take advantage of it, and finally the capital fell. Therefore, your majesty is not always right. Although the emperor is the son of heaven and receives the mandate of heaven, he is still a human being after all and will make mistakes. Therefore, even if it is an imperial decree, it cannot go against the will of the people. If the people are against it, this imperial decree cannot be listened to."

Duke Yansheng said quickly.

I have to say it's very strange for him to say these words considering his current identity.

but……

This is the right thing for him to say!
Because no one else wants to take the blame, only Duke Yansheng can do it. Not only because of his special status, if something goes wrong, at most he will be deposed, but it is impossible to execute all nine generations of his clan. Moreover, the reputation of Duke Yansheng will not fall.

What’s more important is that Duke Yansheng, who was able to write about the prosperous era of Bahuangxiange, is also very open-minded!
Jiang Yueguang would rather die than say this.

This theoretical system is indeed not new. It has been proposed for nearly two thousand years, but it is just talk. No one dares to explain it in depth. It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang kicked Mencius out because of this. The emperor can tolerate an ancient sage saying this, but if his minister dares to say this, he will probably be punished by the nine clans elimination, which can be used for treason.

The impact is far-reaching!
Even if the current Chongzhen is indeed no longer capable of doing anything, the new monarch will still settle accounts with him in the future.

Jiang Yueguang didn't want to bring disaster to his descendants.

But as long as Duke Yansheng threatened, he would dare to say anything, let alone this, even the most treasonous things.

The advantage of a flexible body!

He is just afraid of death, what can he do!

But Li Zicheng still sneered.

Duke Yansheng was frightened, but Yang Feng beside him gave him courage.

"You are using these lies to stop me from going to Nanjing as ordered?

Is this the self-proclaimed loyal minister?

Openly saying that the emperor's decree is not in line with the will of the people, and that the emperor is causing chaos among his loyal ministers? "

Li Zicheng said.

"King Qin, you don't seem to be qualified to say this, right? It was you who led the rebellion in the Ming Dynasty. If you say that public opinion cannot be higher than the imperial edict, then why didn't you obey the imperial edict and rebel? Why didn't you obey the imperial edict and rebel instead of being content to starve to death? If you admit that public opinion is higher than His Majesty, then your rebellion was not wrong. You have not let down the Ming Dynasty or the emperor. You just did the right thing. But if you don't admit that public opinion is higher than His Majesty, then your rebellion was wrong.

Of course, you can say that you have turned over a new leaf.

Put down the butcher knife and become a Buddha instantly.

However, wrong is wrong after all. At most you can be said to have turned over a new leaf, but that cannot change the fact that your previous rebellion was wrong. You are just a thief who has been pardoned.

Please look at my mouth shape.

thief! "

Yang Feng said.

Li Zicheng...

It has to be said that his past did limit his performance.

If we admit that public opinion is higher than the emperor, then it means that the gentry in Jiangnan have reason to oppose him.

If one does not acknowledge that public opinion is above the emperor, then one must admit that his past rebellion was wrong.

It was actually easy for him to say, after all, as a tyrant, he could say something against his will for the sake of his own interests. I am a barbarian, I just like to rebel, what can you do to me? Am I a thief? I am a thief? What can you do to me? But he couldn't explain it to his subordinates. This theory was what his subordinates needed. Those old bandits who followed him were eager to get rid of their bandit past. They needed this theory. As long as they said that public opinion was higher than the emperor, then there was nothing wrong with their past. Their rebellion was not treason, but upright. It was the emperor and the court that were wrong, and they were not wrong.

After all, as things gradually stabilize, the old bandits are eager to break away from the past.

They want to be officials.

They want their descendants to no longer be labeled as descendants of bandits.

This is inevitable.

Which thief doesn’t dream of being recruited?
Including the former generals of the imperial army, who already accounted for a large part of his subordinates, they were more eager to get such an explanation, which meant that they did not betray the Ming Dynasty and surrender to the bandits, but they were following the will of the people, and it was the will of the people that wanted them to cooperate with Li Zicheng. Similarly, the old civil officials who had been used by Li Zicheng and the local gentry who had knelt before him all had an explanation, and they were following the will of the people. The will of the people is a basket.

You can put anything in it.

"Even so, it doesn't mean that what you call public opinion is public opinion."

Song Xiance said.

"So, we can discuss a method that you think can truly be regarded as public opinion until you are satisfied, but before that, we must first cease fire. The war cannot continue."

Yang Feng said.

Then he looked at Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng frowned and remained silent.

"King Qin, you don't even have this much confidence, do you?

Since you shouted to open the city gates to welcome the King of Rebellion, you must have trusted the people and knew that they would rise up in response. How come you don't trust the people now that you are the King of Qin of the Ming Dynasty?"

Du Yinxi said.

Li Zicheng sneered.

"Then let's wait and see!"

He said.

After saying that, he stood up and left.

Song Xiance looked at Yang Feng and others.

"King of Donghai, Duke Yansheng, we will give you an answer!"

He said.

After saying that, he also stood up and left.

Yang Feng and the others were still sitting there, watching them go away.

"He won't be so stupid, but it would be a good idea to take this opportunity to stop the war, build warships, and manufacture cannons."

Jiang Yueguang said slowly.

"Public opinion must be respected. No matter who it is, as long as they sign something, they must abide by it."

Yang Feng said.

Jiang Yueguang nodded.

This is equivalent to making a guarantee, and Yang Feng's guarantee is still very trustworthy.

Of course, Li Zicheng could not be bound by public opinion. Even if public opinion was against him in the end, would he just give up? Isn't it easy to find an excuse? It's just that he is not making good progress now. He is temporarily unable to break through the lake mouth, especially. He needs some time to prepare warships.

He agreed to it first and temporarily stopped the fighting. When the four people were gathered, his preparations would also be completed.

No matter what the outcome is, we still have to move forward.

At that time, Yang Feng, the mediator, had to respond.

Even join the war.

If Yang Feng was not dragged into the battlefield, it would be impossible to stop Li Zicheng.

The Jiangxi Elders Association paid such a high price that Jiang Yueguang was even accused by local elders of being a traitor to Jiangxi. Some even wanted to remove him, and some radical elders even wanted to dig up his ancestral grave. Their real purpose was not to hope that Li Zicheng would keep his promise, but to hope that Yang Feng would keep his promise. Li Zicheng would definitely break his promise, but as long as Yang Feng did not break his promise, he could defeat Li Zicheng.

This is the reason why the Jiangxi Elders Association headed by Jiang Yueguang always compromised in front of Yang Feng and would rather act with him than fail to meet his demands.

We are all adults and not that naive.

In the end, everything depends on strength. If you can't win on the battlefield, you can't get it at the negotiation table.

"In fact, these things are not without reason. In the past, we just regarded them as the words of sages. But now, we see that these words of sages are indeed the words of sages. Duke Yan is right. Your Majesty was wrong in the past, which led to the Ming Dynasty's current situation. If the people are more important than the emperor, and if you can restrain your Majesty with the will of the people and prevent him from making mistakes, then we can expect a prosperous era."

Du Yinxi picked up the letter to all the people of the world and said seriously.

Duke Yansheng continued to smile peacefully.

Anyway, he knows his own limitations. He is the one who takes the blame. No matter how many blazes there are, he will take them. It doesn't matter if there are too many blazes.

Obviously, Du Yinxi has realized that this thing used to deal with Li Zicheng can actually be used to deal with any monarch. The Donglin Party fought against Wanli, Tianqi, and Chongzhen for decades, but in the end they still could not do anything. In fact, the root cause is that the monarchy is supreme in theory. The emperor is supreme, and he claims to be the heavenly constitution. Those who oppose him are traitors, and those who disobey the imperial edict are treasonous. How can we fight? But if we interpret public opinion as being higher than the monarchy and get the emperor's recognition...

This is easy!

As long as Li Zicheng accepted it, he could issue an edict on behalf of Chongzhen at any time to acknowledge that the people are more important than the emperor.

Recognize that public opinion can be higher than imperial power.

It will be easy to deal with in the future. It would be best to make a covenant or something like that. If the monarch acts recklessly again in the future, we can use public opinion to restrain him, or even resist him, and eventually make him change his ways. It's not like no one has ever thought about this in the past, but they couldn't do it, or even had the courage to bring it up. Now is a rare opportunity.

"What does the King of the East Sea think?"

He looked at Yang Feng expectantly and said.

Yang Feng smiled slightly.

"Yang is a scholar, not a successful Jinshi. Naturally, we cannot be compared to the saints and sages. Of course, you are all great sages, and what you say is right, but Yang dare not speak nonsense."

He said.

Du Yinxi looked at him with contempt.

This bastard was determined to force others to take the lead while he waited behind to reap the benefits. He saw clearly that the gentry were really tempted, and he didn't care anyway. He could kill nobles in the palace as the emperor, so why would he need this kind of thing?
Does Chengcheng need to restrain the imperial power?

You dog, take three punches from me first. I have to say this is the sadness of being a civil official.

This is all I can do.

"The King of the East Sea is too modest. Everyone knows that the King of the East Sea is knowledgeable and even has books given to him by immortals. It is rumored that even the Regent is reading the King of the East Sea's immortal books and is even preparing to print some of them so that everyone in the world will know."

Jiang Yueguang said.

"Lord Xihu is joking. There is no such thing as an immortal book. They are all written by the regent himself. It is also possible that when she was in the palace, she saw some things that cannot be seen outside, such as some secret collections of the palace. After all, we all know that the royal family always has some secret collections. But she is a woman, and her status is special, so it is inconvenient for her to say more. Therefore, she pretended to be a gift from an immortal. We all know each other well, and I can't hide it from you. They are all written by her, but she is just using me as a cover.

You guys have to keep it secret."

Yang Feng spoke nonsense with a sincere look on his face.

"I see. I didn't expect the regent to be a talented woman."

Kuang Zhao said with a smile.

Jiang Yueguang and others also praised it.

(End of this chapter)