Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 998 Social Tear
For the Nanjing court, with the restoration of strength in all aspects of the Ming Dynasty, there is no need for Wang Yan to worry about the operation of the entire empire. All he has to do is to grasp the general direction, control the empire's money bag, and maintain the stability of the empire. .

Now that the Ming Dynasty has gained a firm foothold in the military, external threats have been greatly reduced, and internal contradictions have begun to emerge.

In fact, a big country like China is basically invincible as long as there are no internal problems and a strong central government exists.

The internal problems Wang Yan faced were not only the challenges from the Tang and Lu parties, but also the internal strife among the ruling class, and more serious problems were the contradictions between the ruling class and the people at the bottom, as well as the ideology caused by social changes. confusion.

With the development of commerce in the Ming Dynasty, it can be said that the living standards of the people have improved. They were not able to have enough food and clothing before, but now they can eat food, but this does not mean that social problems will be solved and there will be no contradictions. On the contrary, the contradictions may be bigger and more acute.

This involves the problem of human nature. In the past, everyone was poor together, and there was not much difference between people, but now some people take advantage of the imperial government's policies to become rich, and the gap between people becomes larger.

Don’t worry about scarcity but inequality, don’t worry about poverty but worry about uneasiness, plus the bureaucrats and gentry really take advantage of the government’s policies and relations to obtain profits wantonly, they occupy the vast majority of the profits, while the common people only get a little bit, It will inevitably make people feel unfair.

In May, when the imperial court decided to destroy Sun Kewang in Southwest China, miners' uprising broke out in Jinhua and Yiwu, Zhejiang, and captured Jinhua.

Throughout the ages, Jiangnan has been the purse of every imperial court and the place with the highest standard of living. There were very few people's uprisings at the bottom. The most famous one was the Fangla rebellion in the Song Dynasty.

Within the Ming Dynasty, the attitudes of various factions in suppressing the rebellion can be said to be unprecedented. This is the same as the Ming Dynasty's determination to attack Sun Kewang, and the meeting hall has almost unanimously approved it.

It can be seen how much the officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty hated Sun Kewang and his like, or the rebellion at the bottom, like a completely reactionary regime.

The rebellion broke out in the Jinhua area, which can be said to be a shock in the south of the Yangtze River. Various forces urged the court to put down the rebellion as soon as possible. , or related to self-interest.

This is human nature, and it has nothing to do with right or wrong. It can only be said that they did not have a big picture at the time and were short-sighted.

Since the establishment of the Three Kings Administration and the Council system, the Ming Dynasty's operation was inevitable and inefficient, but this time the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Industry, and the local government cooperated closely.

Within three days, Zhongzhen Town, which guarded the capital, divided [-] troops, and the local town troops in Zhejiang and Nanzhili rushed to Jinhua, trying to extinguish the rebellion in the shortest possible time.

Wang Yan thought that the rebellion could be quelled within a month, but he did not expect that this rebel army was not easy. It took four months to get rid of it, and it was not suppressed until early September.

The bureaucrats in the court breathed a sigh of relief, but Wang Yan was very vigilant in his heart. He couldn't help that Sun Kewang was still alive, and there was another Li Kewang here. He still had a long way to go to govern a huge country.

In the early morning, Wang Yan ate a sumptuous breakfast at home. After entertaining the children for a while, he changed into his official uniform, confessed that he would not come back for lunch, and led the guards out.

Today he will go to the Imperial Academy, martial arts, and the Ministry of Industry Academy to inspect.

Wang Yan went to Guozijian first, and Gu Yanwu and Huang Zongxi went together. Now this is a place where various ideas meet and collide.

It is a good thing that ideas contend and a hundred flowers bloom, but at the same time it also brings social chaos.

In the past, everyone believed in Neo-Confucianism, with unified thinking. Although the society was oppressive, it was stable. Now that there are so many schools of thought, people don't know who to trust.

It's okay for the factions to fight each other red-faced, but they are afraid that they will not be convinced if they lose. Especially now that a large number of royal disciples have entered the officialdom, those who originally believed in Neo-Confucianism must feel threatened and unhappy, which will tear society apart.

Not long ago, Tang Zhen, a student from Sichuan, actually put forward the statement that "everyone who is an emperor is a thief", which can be said to be better than Gu Yanwu's proposal to replace "government by one" with "government by all" and Wang Fuzhi's request "not to treat the world privately." Huang Zongxi's "he is only the king who is the greatest harm in the world" is even more shocking.

Because of this statement, it immediately aroused the public outrage of the conservative faction. Tang Wang, Lu Wang, many ministers in the court, and great Confucian scholars in the scholarly forest all demanded that the court remove Tang Zhen's fame and send him to prison for investigation, but Wang Yan suppressed him. , but Wang Yan also felt that Tang Zhen's remarks were too radical, and he might not be soluble in the world, so he was transferred from Guozijian to Wuchang Official School, and let him temporarily avoid the limelight.

At this time, Wang Yan was walking in front of a lawn of the Imperial College, where more than a dozen white-clothed scholars were playing Cuju in the distance. After watching for a while, he suddenly said to Huang Zongxi, "Tai Chong, don't mention too violent things in the Imperial College recently. Rhetoric and rhetoric!" As a political force, we need to have our own political thoughts and opinions. It is impossible to say that we came to power just to make money. This will not last long, and it will not attract real talents and fresh blood.

Guozijian is where Wang Yan mainly intervenes, because most of the people here still have ideals and have not become bureaucrats. Influence them and let them join his side, so that the entire power group will be continuously injected with fresh blood and will not age prematurely.

"Your Highness, why?" Huang Zongxi couldn't help asking: "Your Majesty has just made some achievements in Nanjing Guozijian. If you don't do more publicity, it will be difficult to influence more students."

Huang Zongxi was originally an official school in Wuchang, but was moved to Nanjing by Wang Yan not long ago.

Wang Yan didn't explain, but Gu Yanwu who was on the side said: "Brother Taichong doesn't know, this Jinhua riot is different from the previous ones, and there are definitely some people involved in it. They play the banner of the third prince Zhu, and they are not against the court. They are against the imperial court. The national policy that His Highness has implemented in recent years."

Generally, there are very few scholars involved in the riots at the bottom, but once scholars participate, the problem will be serious.

This incident reminded Wang Yan that his actions were still too drastic, such as the reform of the imperial examinations, which angered many scholars.

In addition, he vigorously advocated the study of the mind, which dissatisfied the Neo Confucianists. They have been monarchs and ministers, fathers and sons all their lives, and their concepts are deeply ingrained, and it does not mean that they will change suddenly.

Huang Zongxi was silent for a moment when he heard the words, then nodded.

The rise of one theory and the decline of another theory involve too many people.

(End of this chapter)