Chapter 599 0594 [Five Elements of Virtue]

The first time Li Qingzhao was summoned, she did not attract much attention, because this was her job.

But the second time she entered the palace to play mahjong, it seemed very unusual.

At least it is certain that she has a very good relationship with the queen and the imperial concubine!

The one who reacted the fastest was Wang, who came to visit with expensive gifts and kept calling her "sister".

Li Qingzhao treated her coldly throughout the whole process, and only said when Wang left: "The gift is too expensive, please take it back, madam."

"We are all family, and there is still a difference in the importance of gifts?" Wang smiled.

Li Qingzhao said: "It's better to distinguish them clearly."

The gift was carried out directly by the servants, and the side door was quickly closed. Wang stood outside the door with a gloomy expression.

This pair of cousins ​​played well when they were young, but their relationship was extremely bad when they grew up.

Historically, Li Qingzhao was imprisoned for a divorce lawsuit. She would rather ask Qi Chongli, the aunt's cousin of her ex-husband Zhao Mingcheng, for help, and never dealt with Qin Hui and his wife. Moreover, Qi Chongli was Qin Hui's political enemy!

Li Qingzhao was in her sixties when she attended a gathering of ladies of high rank. She wrote an article celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival and wanted to send it to the harem to flatter the emperor and empress. At that time, Qin Hui's brother Qin Zi was in the Hanlin Academy. He directly stopped Li Qingzhao's article and only routinely rewarded Li Qingzhao with money, so as not to let the praise article be seen by the emperor.

This can no longer be explained by the unfamiliar relationship. They are definitely enemies!

Li Rui was sitting in the carriage and saw Wang Shi leaving in anger. He felt a little worried.

He entered the house and saw his sister and said, "Wang Shi is very scheming. Sister, please don't offend her."

"I don't want to offend her, and I don't want to accept her expensive gift," Li Qingzhao said, "Once I accept it, I don't know what will happen in the future."

Li Rui said no more. He was an honest man who could be fooled.

Li Qingzhao asked, "How did you find time to come to me?"

Li Rui's expression was a little embarrassed, and he chose to tell the truth: "The court is arguing about the matter of virtue and fortune, and the emperor has not given any explanation. I heard that my sister was summoned twice, and my colleagues... my colleagues asked me to ask my sister to find out."

"What is there to argue about virtue and fortune?" Li Qingzhao said puzzledly.

Li Rui said seriously: "The major affairs of the country are only war and sacrifice. Virtue and fortune are related to sacrifice, and they must be determined, otherwise how to sacrifice in the future?"

Li Qingzhao said: "The emperor has his own deep meaning, so it's better not to interfere."

"I'm not interfering, I just want to ask my sister what the emperor thinks about the virtue and fortune of this dynasty." Li Rui said.

Li Qingzhao shook her head: "You can't guess the emperor."

Initially, virtue and fortune were determined according to the mutual restraint of the five elements.

Later, a certain guy played abdication and changed virtue and fortune to the mutual generation of the five elements.

According to the theory of the mutual generation of the five elements, the Song Dynasty was the virtue of fire, and the Ming Dynasty should now be the virtue of earth.

Due to the feudal superstition of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, the theory of virtue and fortune has been very popular in the past twenty years.

Even the ritual system after Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty reformed it, and emphasized the fire virtue. The ceremony of worshiping the god of fire virtue is higher than the level of worshiping Hou Tu!

Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming established the new Ming Dynasty. Although they tacitly believed that it belonged to the earth virtue, they never officially recognized it.

The ministers were very anxious. How to formulate the sacrificial system without determining the virtue and fortune of the dynasty?

The idea of ​​the father and son was very simple, that is, to downplay the "five elements of virtue and fortune"!

In fact, this thing has been abandoned since the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty.

The Yuan Dynasty never officially recognized virtue and fortune, but it was widely rumored among the people that the Yuan Dynasty belonged to the water virtue.

When Zhu Yuanzhang rebelled, in order to show that he was incompatible with the Yuan Dynasty, he claimed that he belonged to the fire virtue. However, after the Ming Dynasty was officially established, Zhu Yuanzhang no longer mentioned the matter of virtue and fortune.

The fire virtue of the Ming Dynasty has since become a folk legend, and the official attitude is neither support nor opposition.

As for the Qing Dynasty, Qianlong directly said that virtue and fortune are nonsense.

From the sacrificial system of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, we know that they did not believe in "virtue and fortune".

In the morning, Li Qingzhao took a donkey cart to work.

She worked until lunch time, and her colleagues gathered together to talk about virtue and fortune.

Li Qingzhao asked curiously, "Why did everyone suddenly pay attention to this matter?"

Li Congxun explained, "Mao Kui, the transport envoy of Fujian in the old Song Dynasty, was recalled to the capital for his contribution of soil, but was only appointed as a Hanlin scholar without any actual assignment. Mao Kui wanted to gain the emperor's attention, and he submitted five memorials in a row, requesting that the virtue of the Ming Dynasty be officially determined. He also deliberately sought innovation and change, saying that the abdication should be the mutual generation of the five elements, and the Ming Dynasty destroyed the Song Dynasty because of the mutual restraint of the five elements, and the virtue of the new Ming Dynasty should be water virtue."

"The ministers in the court quarreled about this," Zhang Zeduan laughed, "Most officials denounced Mao Kui for grandstanding and believed that the Ming Dynasty must be earth virtue. But they also took the opportunity to discuss the theory of virtue and fortune again, and asked the government to determine the virtue and fortune as soon as possible."

Li Tang also said happily, "The court was very lively. The ministers proposed to worship the earth virtue star god, but some people said that the earth should be the main worship."

"Others said that the Taibai star god should be worshipped as the main worship." Zhao Guang said.

Li Qingzhao was also amused: "What does this have to do with Taibai Xingjun?"

Li Tang whispered: "The emperor and the prince started an army in Yangzhou, which is the ancient Taoist temple of Taibai Jinxing. The old Song Dynasty's tyrant emperor Zhao Ji once asked the current emperor to promote Taibai Jinxing's Taoist temple. Therefore, it is widely rumored among the people that the emperor is the reincarnation of Taibai Jinxing."

"Isn't Taibai Jinxing a woman?" Li Qingzhao asked.

Li Tang said: "How can the gods be divided into male and female?"

Zhao Guang said: "So some ministers suggested that our Ming Dynasty should belong to Jinde. They also said that the rise of the Jin Kingdom was to rob Jinde, and the Ming Dynasty should have established Jinde early to seize the fortune."

What a mess?

Li Qingzhao was speechless for a while.

"What virtue do you think should be determined?" Li Tang asked.

Li Qingzhao thought for a while and said: "Song is fire virtue, Ming is earth virtue, this is what should be meant. Since the emperor has been hesitant to decide, it is probably because of another intention."

Zhang Zeduan said: "The ministers also think so, thinking that the emperor has another intention. Those who proposed water virtue and gold virtue just want to try their luck to please the emperor."

Li Congxun laughed and said: "Especially gold virtue, the rumors among the people are getting more and more bizarre. Some fortune tellers claim that the emperor is handsome and kind, but he is a man with a female appearance, so he must be the reincarnation of Taibai Jinxing. The country should not only determine the gold virtue, but also confer the title of Baidi."

According to the popular saying at that time, Taibai Jinxing is the daughter of Baidi!

If Zhu Guoxiang is the reincarnation of Taibai Jinxing, then the father is honored by the daughter, and Baidi should also be promoted to a higher level of sacrifice.

Even the position of Haotian God should be given to Baidi.

The painting academy was also a place for the emperor to relax. Zhu Guoxiang was so annoyed by the noise that he left a pile of memorials unsent and walked to the painting academy to relax.

When everyone came to pay their respects, Zhu Guoxiang said, "Li Daizhao, please stay. You can go and do your own things."

Li Tang looked at the emperor, then at Li Qingzhao, and hurriedly bowed and left.

The other officials also left with a bit of surprise.

Li Qingzhao saw Zhu Guoxiang sitting there with his eyes closed and resting, and she didn't say anything to disturb him. She quietly took out the guqin and played it.

It was not until Zhu Guoxiang fell asleep half lying down that Li Qingzhao waved to the eunuch and took out a thin blanket to cover the emperor.

After a good sleep, Zhu Guoxiang stretched and sat up.

Li Qingzhao asked, "Is the emperor still worried about the issue of virtue and luck?"

Zhu Guoxiang shook his head, "I just didn't expect that the first time a Ming official rejected an imperial edict was because of the idea of ​​virtue and luck. It's really ridiculous!"

Refutation means that the order of the emperor or prime minister was rejected by the officials who had the power to reject it because it did not conform to the established system.

When Wang Anshi carried out reforms, he wanted to control the Censorate, so he recommended his student Li Ding as a censor.

Song Shenzong issued an appointment edict, but it was rejected by officials seven times. He changed several institutions and dismissed three officials, but still could not pass this personnel appointment.

Because it was against the rules!

In addition, the student recommended by Wang Anshi had a particularly bad reputation - he concealed the death of his concubine's mother and refused to mourn.

That was not only Li Ding's concubine's mother, but also his biological mother.

After being exposed, Li Ding actually said that he didn't know it was his biological mother, and he didn't mourn because he had doubts about the blood relationship.

Not to mention in ancient times, even in modern times, not recognizing your biological mother and not mourning will be criticized.

Wang Anshi promoted such a person to control the speech, it would be strange if the ministers did not refute it!

By the way, Su Shi's Wutai Poetry Case was also led by this Li Ding.

When Zhu Ming was in Tokyo before, because he killed too many old Song dignitaries and officials, no one dared to refute the outrageous decrees he issued.

And just yesterday, Zhu Guoxiang issued an edict, ordering that the theory of virtue and fortune should not be discussed anymore, and the new dynasty would not determine the national virtue and fortune anymore. This order was sent back intact!

Zhu Guoxiang was furious. Not to mention the cabinet's refutation, the Tongzhengyuan was also rejected.

Zhu Guoxiang called his student Liang Yi. The two were not only monarchs and ministers, master and apprentice, but also like foster father and son.

Liang Yi said with a sad face: "Your Majesty, it was rejected by the six departments. Although I am in charge of the Tongzhengyuan, the six departments have the power to refute. I ordered them to pass, but they were all disobedient, so they had to be replaced."

At that moment, Zhu Guoxiang finally realized that he had no majesty.

The Six Departments dared not to give the emperor face!

If his son was in Beijing, those guys would definitely be more spineless.

After listening to this, Li Qingzhao persuaded: "Your Majesty, the Cabinet and the Six Departments probably did not deliberately offend the emperor. It is a matter of virtue and fortune. They must abide by the rules, otherwise, if there is a disaster in the future, these officials will be impeached by everyone."

"I know." Zhu Guoxiang's helplessness lies here. He knows that those officials who rejected the imperial edict did nothing wrong.

No longer sure of the virtue and fortune of the new dynasty, this is an unprecedented major event.

No one dares to take the blame for the Cabinet and the Six Departments.

They must reject this order, firstly, they can get the reputation of directly admonishing the emperor, and secondly, they can be exempted from responsibility if there is a disaster in the future.

Zhu Guoxiang missed his son a little. Only when his son is in Beijing can he force this matter.

This broken emperor, whoever wants to do it can do it, anyway, Zhu Guoxiang doesn't want to be bullied again.

Zhu Guoxiang asked, "Do you think it's time to set up a good fortune?"

Li Qingzhao replied, "I'm just a technical officer of the Hanlin Academy of Painting, and I can't discuss political affairs."

"This matter will be dealt with after the prince returns to Beijing. I won't care anymore. You can say whatever you want." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Li Qingzhao said, "It's better... not to change. Every dynasty has had good fortune. The Ming Dynasty can just follow the trend. There is no need to make unpleasantness with the ministers because of this."

Zhu Guoxiang shook his head firmly, "The people are the foundation of the country. This is the established national policy. In the future, the Ming Dynasty will only care about people's livelihood, not good fortune. If the people live well, the Ming Dynasty will have virtue. If the people have difficulty surviving, the Ming Dynasty will lose virtue, and the national fortune will end."

Li Qingzhao didn't say anything else, but looked at the emperor. The emperor really cares about the people!