Chapter 459: Correcting a Wrong Must Be Done in a Proper Way; in an Emergency, It Is Necessary to Follow the Authority of the Authority Xu Xin Wants to "Become a Saint"

Chapter 459: Correcting a wrong must be done in a proper way, and in an emergency, one must take the right path...Xu Xin wants to "become a saint"...

In the Wenhua Hall of the Forbidden City, Xu Xin was handling one matter after another. There were a lot of things to do recently, mainly because they involved reforms, so there were a lot of voices from below.

"Grand Master, this is the memorial that His Majesty asked me to send. There are some... rebellious words."

Cao Zhengchun's voice entered the hall, and with his figure came some memorials, some of which were first sent to the Silijian and then to the cabinet for processing.

It's just that Xu Xin is the only one in the Ming Cabinet now. He does have some staff members to help deal with things, and they have been very busy recently.

Xu Xin casually flipped through the book on the top, which was a memorial from a censor, secretly reporting to the emperor to say bad things about him.

Specifically, it was said that Xu was disrespectful to heaven and earth, mainly because there were a lot of natural disasters recently, and then he didn't ask the emperor to issue a self-criticism edict, which was too much and did not conform to Dong Zhongshu's theory of the correspondence between heaven and man. Then he said some nonsense like Xu was blocking the way of speech.

Then he went on to say that the recent reforms to rectify the administration of officials were not in line with the laws of our ancestors... If it was in person, I really wanted to slap him in the face, saying that it was the laws of our ancestors, right? Zhu Chongba was skinned and stuffed with straw for embezzling 60 taels of silver. I don't know if this person likes this law of our ancestors.

The reforms Xu Xin made to rectify the administration of officials were similar to those made by Yongzheng, the fourth son of the Qing Dynasty. They specifically restricted civil officials and stipulated the number of acres of land that were tax-free for scholars and juren. Of course, the vested interests of the so-called "farming and reading to pass on the family" would not like it.

But Xu Xin didn't care. Now that he had all the power in the Ming Dynasty in his hands, the more disobedient people there were, the better. The Northeast was in need of people for the development...

When Xu Xin thought of this, he continued to read on. The emperor deliberately put it in the first book. There must be something else in this memorial.

Oh, as expected, he was said to have blocked the channels of speech, not allowing the gentry and students to discuss politics, otherwise he would be deposed as a commoner, saying that people's words were not worth caring about, and good advice should be widely accepted... Damn, Xu Xin knew that they were going to make trouble in this way, so he must take precautions!

Finally, the censor made another summary, using Wang Anshi to refer to him, Xu, and said... Wang Anshi used this to mislead the Song Dynasty, and your majesty must be deeply cautious...

After reading the memorial, Xu Xin also understood why the little emperor was angry. The censor not only scolded him, Xu, but also scolded the little emperor.

Before modern times, after the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi had always been the image of a traitor in the propaganda of scholars.

Because since the Southern Song Dynasty, the literati have put the blame for the Jingkang Incident on Wang Anshi, and this view still exists in modern times.

On the surface, Wang Anshi's reforms intensified the party struggles in the Northern Song Dynasty. Those who controlled the government in the late Northern Song Dynasty happened to be the "New Party" related to Wang Anshi.

In addition, the Yuan Dynasty began to flourish Neo-Confucianism, and the literati were mainly conservatives, who were very resistant to reform, and subjectively denounced Wang Anshi as a traitor. Mainly in the ancient context, the emperor could not be scolded, even if the two wastes of Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong were the previous emperors.

In such an era, in the current Ming Dynasty, whoever is Wang Anshi is scolding him. It can be seen from this that it was not easy to reform in ancient times, and if you are not careful, you will be infamous for thousands of years.

Anyway, most of the literati in this era are wastes who eat and wait for death. In their opinion, instead of wasting effort on reform, it is better to indulge in pleasure, wait for the grassroots revolution or foreign invasion, and then change the dynasty.

These "elites" will still be reused, so there is no need to reform and treat the dynasty that is difficult to recover.

Xu Xin knows what these people think, and he is doing these literati and literati. He is reforming not only to make the people of this world live better, everyone eats well and wears warm clothes, but also to practice and gain experience.

Because he was not sure what kind of world he would go to in the future, and what kind of things he had to do to open up the situation.

Therefore, he could not just eat and wait for death like these guys, or even specifically watch them and send them to death.

"What did your majesty say."

Xu Xin casually read a few books, all of which were the same stuff, so he turned his head to ask Cao Zhengchun.

"Your majesty said that the Grand Tutor should draft it according to his own ideas, and I will look at it and approve it."

Cao Zhengchun's response was as expected by Xu Xin.

The handling of memorials in the Ming Dynasty basically had to go through two stages: drafting and approving. The cabinet drafted and gave opinions on the handling, and the approval was to use a red pen to approve it. Basically, it was written according to the opinions of the draft, but it was the final decision.

Why is the Silijian the ultimate goal of many eunuchs? Because this department has the opportunity to approve on behalf of the emperor.

Most of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were not very diligent. Basically, they would only approve the most important memorials, and the rest were approved by the eunuchs of the Silijian, such as the pen holder and the seal holder. This gave them room for operation.

Of course, after Xu Xin came to power, the Imperial Household Department did not dare to mess around with the memorials he personally drafted, so Cao Zhengchun said that he watched and approved them.

"I have already issued a clear announcement to implement reforms, but there is still a secret order to ask for orders. He does not know how to do things, but only knows how to oppose. It is not for him to use rumors to report things like this. Put him in jail..."

Xu Xin did not like most of the censors and officials. He did not need any evidence to report rumors. This is not supervision, but chaos.

Xu Xin made a decision. The cabinet voted to put these censors in Jinyiwei prison and asked Jinyiwei to investigate and deal with them for the crimes of forming a party, threatening the court, and disturbing state affairs.

Then, within a few days, the vested interests among the literati and scholars launched a concentrated counterattack. The memorials against Xu Xin floated to the emperor like snowflakes, saying that he disrupted the ancestral system and abused his power, and asked the emperor to convict him as the Grand Tutor.

These people said nice things, saying that the young emperor was open to advice, but Xu Xin, the chief minister, was intolerant. They also listed that Zhu Yuanzhang learned from the mistakes of the previous generation and did not set up a prime minister, and Zhu Di set up a cabinet, but there should be multiple cabinet ministers, which is the law of the ancestors.

The cabinet has not had new people for many years, and Xu Xin is the only one in power, abusing his power and doing good, and he also wants to do the same thing as Wang Anshi, which is really a violation of the ancestral system...

In fact, Xu Xin's reforms touched the interests of these people and the forces behind them, so they jumped out impatiently.

However, what Xu Xin wanted to do must be accomplished. If these people dare to block the way, then send them on the road. Reforms have always been bound to bleed, and these people like to get together so much, let them be the first batch of bloodshed.

"Zhongfu, how should we deal with these people..."

In Wenyuan Pavilion, the voice of the young emperor rang out. So many memorials made him feel pressured. After all, he lacked experience.

Xu Xin glanced at the young emperor and said calmly: "Shou'er, do you think their remarks are good or bad, kind or malicious?"

Zhu Houzhao replied loudly: "Hulong Villa, Dongchang and Jinyiwei have all reported that Zhongfu's reforms are very effective, so their memorials are all speaking for those who do evil, which is wrong."

"Since it is wrong, there is no need to retrial. Those who are imprisoned will be executed for the crime of deceiving the emperor! Their father's family, mother's family, and wife's family are not allowed to take the imperial examination within three generations!"

Xu Xin's plain words represent the falling of heads, and their three families will also be affected. This is the price of doing evil.

"Is this... too much, too fast."

The young emperor was frightened by Xu Xin's decision. Now he still has some kindness like his father, but in the future, he will definitely not be.

Xu Xin looked at Zhu Houzhao and said something meaningful. He was so anxious to reform, not only to help the Ming Dynasty turn over, but more importantly to get rid of the Confucian ethics and make his "Wangxue" online and orthodox. He had a hunch that becoming a "sage" might be beneficial.

"In extraordinary times, extraordinary things should be done."

"You can't correct a wrong without going too far, and you can't avoid taking the right path when things are urgent!"