Wanli Youming

Chapter 124 Disagreement between Monarch and Subject

Chapter 124 Disagreement between Monarch and Subject

Time flies when you are free.

Before I knew it, it was the Lantern Festival in the seventh year of Wanli.

The ancients attached great importance to the Lantern Festival. Basically, from the [-]th day of the first lunar month, there will be a big lantern festival, and it will be lively.

Since the Song Dynasty, the most famous event of the Lantern Festival has been the Aoshan Fireworks and Lantern Festival.

And also because of whether the Aoshan Fireworks and Lantern Festival should continue to be held, Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng also had disagreements.

According to Zhang Juzheng's intention, it would cost a lot to set up Aoshan fireworks and lanterns, so it should be abolished instead of advocating extravagance.

The main reason is that Confucianism is inherently thrifty.

For example, there is a saying in "The Analects of Confucius": "Master is warm, kind, respectful, frugal, and you can get it by letting it go. What the master asks for is also different from what other people ask for."

Frugality is one of the five virtues advocated by Confucianism.

Therefore, not only Zhang Juzheng, but also many famous officials in history have the ruling philosophy of advocating thrift and restraining extravagance, and it has developed to the point that many local officials in history will prohibit the people from entertaining, and in the name of Zhenghuang style, prohibit the establishment of temples social drama.

Of course, there is also a reason for fear of people gathering together to make trouble.

In short, many bureaucrats and bureaucrats do not advocate that the people have their own entertainment life.

Even many literati and bureaucrats still advocate that the entertainment of the people is strictly prohibited. Even a good official, because of his own class and the influence of the knowledge he has learned, is more inclined to advocate that the people should be educated by Confucianism, understand the five ethics and five virtues, and work hard. It is inappropriate to set up a temple of obscenity and worship extravagance, so as to defeat the atmosphere.

It's just that bureaucrats and bureaucrats, many find it difficult to do this by themselves.

Including Zhang Juzheng himself, he is frugal in thought, and he is also very strict in family management, never allowing his children to fight for wealth and extravagance.

But it's hard for him to do it himself.

Not to mention other scholar-bureaucrats.

Therefore, many bureaucrats and bureaucrats advocate thrift and prohibit extravagance, but only the common people are prohibited.

The same is true for Zhang Juzheng. Although he indulged in sensuality and pursuit of luxury in life, for example, according to Lu Shusheng, who was once the official secretary of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Juzheng would change his Chinese clothes four times after eating a meal, but he was indeed Advocate thrift.

Zhu Yijun has been asked several times in history to be frugal and reduce court consumption.

"Your Majesty, since the Longqing Festival, it has been yearly offerings for Yuanxi entertainment, which is useless and wasteful. Therefore, it is appropriate to save money in the New Deal."

Zhang Juzheng also said this to Zhu Yijun at this time.

Zhu Yijun said: "But now the national funds are abundant. What's more, the Yiao Mountain Fireworks and Lantern Festival does not cost much money, but what it brings will make the people happier and the commodity trade will be more developed. And the tax revenue is undoubtedly It will also increase income. More importantly, it can benefit the people and increase their income."

"Your Majesty! The imperial court is enough to relieve the poor people's troubles, so why bother to help them become wealthy like nobles?"

"Governance is first and foremost about enriching the country, followed by strengthening the army, so that the ancestral temple and society can be maintained for a long time, and benefiting the people is just a matter of incident."

"Your Majesty now aims to enrich the people, not a good strategy for herdsmen."

"Because people are not satisfied, once the people are rich, they will seek honor, and once they are honored, they will seek safety. Therefore, if Your Majesty does not advocate frugality to suppress people's desires, it will be difficult to satisfy the desires of the people, and the country will not be safe. "

Zhang Juzheng started talking at this moment, and said: "Maybe your Majesty should read "Han Feizi" and "Book of Shang Jun" again, not just the Tongjian!"

Shen Li, who was in charge of daily life notes, was writing a pen to quickly record the conversation between Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng, and because he heard what Zhang Juzheng said, he suddenly raised his head, and looked at the chief assistant who was also his teacher in surprise.

He obviously also realized that the emperor really had a conflict with the chief assistant Zhang Juzheng on the concept of governing the country.

Zhu Yijun also knows that Zhang Juzheng, who is both Confucian and Legalist, has been reforming the system and teaching himself from the perspective of safeguarding the interests of the entire ruling class of Ming Dynasty, and he is not really on the side of the common people. happy life.

Zhu Yijun was not surprised by this either.

Because Zhang Juzheng's restructuring is really just for the long-term survival of the Ming Dynasty and the long-term stability of the society.

Therefore, when Zhang Ju was carrying out the reform of clearing Zhang Tianmu, he used the tone of persuasion to persuade the big landlords of this era, if they want to "spend out of their savings and use up their accumulated years".

And, when expressing his purpose of reform in front of Zhu Yijun, Zhang Juzheng just said: "Through hard work for the rest of his life, he will benefit the descendants of the descendants", that is, he just wants to make his life easier for the monarch in the future, and he can also benefit future generations of kings.

It is not about enriching the people of the world, and really freeing the people of the world from the oppression of the landlord class.

As the emperor, Zhu Yijun couldn't say Zhang Juzheng was wrong.

And it is impossible for him to ask Zhang Juzheng, as a member of the scholar-bureaucrat, to be really enlightened enough to seek happiness for the common people all over the world.

However, since Zhu Yijun is the emperor and the representative of the big landlords of this era, the acreage of his Huangzhuang itself proves this; but he is also a person who has been educated for more than ten years from later generations.

He knows more theoretical knowledge of social sciences than Zhang Juzheng, and he can treat people like horses if he knows that people are not real. In addition, it is impossible to really hope that a short-term reform can completely end the increase in entropy.

Therefore, Zhu Yijun only asked Zhang Juzheng at this time: "Sir, do you think that if you don't obey the people's desire for wealth and honor, the people's desire for wealth and honor will disappear, and will it not exist?"

"Return to Your Majesty, naturally it exists."

"However, Your Majesty should use the minds of the people in the world to implement the system of pursuing wealth and honor, and accept the hearts of the people in the world, that is, the current imperial examinations, and encourage the people to read the books of sages and follow the career path."

"In addition, the imperial examinations are also used to make the readers among the common people only know orthodox knowledge, and thus only know loyalty, integrity and shame. Instead of obeying the minds of the common people, seeking their well-being, and even robbing the rich and helping the poor."

Zhang Juzheng replied.

Zhu Yijun nodded, and said again: "Sir, what you said is true."

"But this is the case, because the population is increasing, there will still be more and more rich people, and more pampered people, but the land of Kyushu is limited!"

"Sir, if things go on like this, if a ruler only knows how to control the people, and doesn't want to increase the income of the people or increase production for the society, will there not be more refugees in Ming Dynasty, and there will be no more refugees who become bandits, or even for the sake of the people?" Are you a bandit?"

Zhang Juzheng raised his eyes and glanced at Zhu Yijun in surprise.

Shen Li also glanced at Zhu Yijun.

Zhang Juzheng then said calmly: "Your Majesty is very worried, but it's just that one generation can only do the things of one generation. Your Majesty should leave the future problems to the children and grandchildren, and there is no need to waste the country for the benefit of the people right now." Money, after all, the imperial court should prepare enough national money for emergencies. What's more, there will be major events such as King Lu's coming out of the cabinet and crossing the sea to fight for Japanese, all of which will cost 10 taels of silver, so frugality is necessary."

"Frugality doesn't have to be frugal on this!"

"A fireworks and lantern show in Aoshan only costs tens of thousands of silver? As far as I know, a famous prostitute won more than 10 taels of money in one night."

"It costs tens of thousands of taels of silver for a scholar-bureaucrat to raise a famous concubine a year, especially for those who raise a rich concubine."

"Since thrift is to be respected and extravagance is prohibited, these rich and powerful gentry should be ordered to forbid extravagance and respect thrift."

"First of all, the buying and selling of women should be prohibited, the establishment of brothels and hook bars should be prohibited, and even the trips to restaurants and antiques should be prohibited!"

"Besides, extravagant expenses should be heavily taxed."

"In this way, it can be regarded as a true restraint of extravagance and thrift."

Zhu Yijun asked Zhang Juzheng after speaking: "What do you think, sir?"

Zhang Juzheng couldn't help being startled, he was at a loss for words: "Chen."

(End of this chapter)