strictlysupreme Chapter 908 Traditional Virtues
Chapter 908 Traditional Virtues
Chapter 908 Traditional Virtues
Zhu Houzhao returned to the palace with mixed feelings.
Although he has not been in the palace these days, he is the emperor after all, and his actions and words are of great concern to people.
As soon as he entered the palace, three people from the attendant's room came to see him with the memorials that had accumulated over the past two days, naturally including those that Zai'e and Zai'er had been ordered to approve.
"Is there something urgent?"
He Tingren, the leader, reported, "Xinjiang Governor Wang Xian came to report on the situation at the border, and Shandong Governor Ouyang Duo came to report on the education of the people. These two matters are important. Please read them, Your Majesty."
Zhu Houzhao nodded, "Bring it here."
What Wang Xian reported was that many people came to Yili City to join the army. However, the imperial court vigorously implemented the military district system, which was actually mainly based on selection. Voluntary enlistment by the people was only an auxiliary means to prevent ambitious and talented people from being left behind.
But there were too many people in Yili City willing to join the army, which made it difficult for them to make a decision.
One army has three guards and one guard has ten thousand people. This is the rule set by the court.
Zhu Houzhao looked at the instructions written by Zai'e. His meaning was that the people's hearts could be used and not abandoned, and an exception should be made to allow those who met the conditions to stay.
After a brief consideration, he overturned Zai'e's opinion, so he picked up his pen to cross out his opinion and wrote it again in red: Military orders are like mountains, they are trivial matters and cannot be changed.
In normal government affairs, he would generally not fail to give face to his son, especially since he was the eldest son of the emperor who had just been conferred the title of prince. But on the other hand, this was a military affair, and he had to demonstrate his absolute power as the emperor in military affairs.
On the other hand, he did think it was better not to change.
Once this kind of thing is changed, there will be no reason not to change it later, and the military regions that are oriented towards elite troops will actually become bloated quickly.
After all, if this reason counts as a reason, then new reasons will appear every day.
Of course, what to do with these remaining people? Zhu Houzhao had not yet made up his mind. Yili was already a frontier city, and there were other garrisons in it. If they really wanted to join the army, they could temporarily stay in those garrisons to guard the border.
After finishing writing, he returned the memorial to He Tingren and instructed: "Send someone to tell Prince Fu the result as well."
"Yes."
This is where power is manifested.
What you wrote doesn't count, I can change it all.
During the Yongle reign, Zhu Di liked to treat his crown prince in this way, that is, he would order him to act as regent, but when he returned, he would overturn all the decisions made by the crown prince.
Even if it is a minor official transferred from the Ministry of Revenue to the Ministry of War.
Sorry,
Now that I'm back, you go back.
It's just to tell everyone that he is still the one holding the power.
Zhu Houzhao's approach was similar in nature, but only in military affairs. In government affairs, he would relatively maintain the face of the Xiazai.
He didn't want people to think there was a conflict between the emperor and the prince.
As two special political symbols, there are contradictions between them. It's like an egg with a crack, and flies will definitely bite it.
As for the memorial from Shandong, it involves etiquette.
Thinking of the case in the city that never sleeps, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but frown.
"You go first. I will consider this matter. There is no rush. Please forward Wang Xian's memorial to him as soon as possible."
"I obey your order." He Tingren bowed slightly. Before turning around, he added, "Your Majesty, are you feeling upset?"
"What can you do?"
He smiled and said, "I don't have any good ideas, I just read books. Recently I'm reading Liu Hedong Collection. If Your Majesty finds it useful, please read for a while. Books can soothe the heart."
Zhu Houzhao blinked his eyes, as if he understood something.
He traveled through time since the eleventh year of the Hongzhi reign, and has always focused on practicing calligraphy and reading.
Modern people do have far more scientific knowledge than ancient people, but the scientific knowledge they understand is incomprehensible when expressed in this era.
On the contrary, the words of the ancients often have "implied deep meanings", which means that they have a language context.
Simply put, if you don't understand the classics and don't read some ancient books, you may not even know when someone scolds you. Isn't such a person illiterate?
What He Tingren says now is very much like that of a scholar.
The Liu Hedong he mentioned is Liu Zongyuan. The ancients liked to call people by nicknames, and it was disrespectful to call them by their names.
this is nothing.
The key point is that He Tingren is not a person who speaks casually. After all, he is in front of the emperor. Why would he talk about reading Liu Zongyuan?
This is very strange.
Because Zhu Houzhao had read a lot of books, he understood it after a little thought.
He Tingren was actually persuading him.
The case that he is concerned about now happened in the Tang Dynasty and caused a lot of uproar, even alarming Wu Zetian. Even after a hundred years, in the time of Liu Zongyuan, the literati of that era still brought up the matter. Liu Zongyuan even wrote an article specifically for this purpose, titled: "Refuting the Argument for Revenge."
After Zhu Houzhao realized what was happening, he said, "Every man must have a son, and a son must have a relative. If relatives become enemies, who can save them from this chaos?"
He Tingren replied: "They killed him, so I killed him. I don't discuss right or wrong, I just bully the weak and threaten them."
"It seems that Xingzhi (He Tingren's pen name) agrees with Liu Zongyuan."
"Yes, it shouldn't be the case that we still kill first and then expose it. This is called chaos."
Zhu Houzhao smiled and said, "The foundation of etiquette is to prevent chaos."
It seems that You Zhi had not read these books, and he actually fainted when he heard the conversation between the emperor and He Tingren.
In most cases, ancient scholars would do this, thinking only of shocking them with a few modern jokes and so-called scientific knowledge, which is actually unlikely to happen.
Having said that, Lin Qingyun's revenge for her father and killing of imperial officials happened during the Tang Dynasty during the reign of Wu Zetian.
The person who did this was called Xu Yuanqing. The person he killed was even more powerful. He was the Imperial Censor, a high-ranking official at the ministerial level.
After killing someone, he turned himself in.
This incident triggered a conflict and crisis between "law and etiquette".
According to the Book of Rites: One cannot live under the same sky with the enemy that is one's father.
You and the enemy who killed your father should not be under the same sky. This is the origin of your irreconcilable relationship.
The Book of Rites: Tan Gong also records: Zixia asked Confucius, "What should I do if I am the enemy of my parents?" The Master said, "Sleep with straw and use dry pillows, do not serve as an official, and do not share the world with him. If you meet him in the market or court, do not raise your weapons and fight him."
'If you meet an enemy in the market, don't fight back with weapons' means that if you meet an enemy in the street, you don't even need to go home to get a weapon, just rush up and start fighting!
Well then, according to what the ancient sages said, it is right to avenge one’s father.
Later, the matter was brought to the attention of Wu Zetian, who first agreed to pardon him, but then a censor named Chen Ziang said that this was inappropriate. Killing someone without paying for his life was against the law.
The final solution was: kill him and then commend him.
When it came to Liu Zongyuan, he used it to ridicule, saying how could commendation and execution be used on one person?
To execute those who deserve praise is called indiscriminate killing.
To commend those who deserve to be put to death is called usurpation.
In the end, the entire Tang Dynasty was unable to figure out this matter.
This incident actually reflects the difference between "ruling the country by virtue" and "ruling the country by law" at a deeper level. Its significance is actually greater than it appears on the surface. Let alone the Tang Dynasty, in later generations, Chinese people will still approve of the kind of man who kills his mother's enemy and then dies heroically.
Confucianism was not very prosperous in the Tang Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, people like He Tingren would immediately stand up to defend the words "ritual and law".
in other words,
Zhu Houzhao had reason to believe that Liu Zongyuan's rebuttal to the revenge proposal was actually what the people wanted.
He stood up, put his hands behind his back and said, "In the 21st year of Zhengde, the Ming Dynasty was considered to have won the support of all the barbarians, and the people were safe and prosperous. However, the way to govern a country is not only about how rich the material is. A country, like a person, must have a spirit. The etiquette and laws must not be forgotten."
He Tingren and the other three ministers rarely heard the emperor say such words, and they were immediately overjoyed, "Your Majesty is wise!"
"The foundation of etiquette is to prevent chaos." He murmured again, "If etiquette is not there, people's hearts will be in chaos. If people's hearts are in chaos, how can the country be stable? Pass the order,"
When these two words were spoken, the people in the attendant room had a knee-jerk reaction. The emperor mostly spoke orally, but they would write down what he wanted to say.
This skill is not easy to come by. Most people can't even write about other people's ideas, let alone their own ideas. An 800-word essay would be written as slowly as a dog crawling.
But He Tingren has this ability.
Zhu Houzhao said: "The Ming Dynasty ruled the world with filial piety, and the Han people also respect the ancestral rituals and laws. As the Son of Heaven, I must follow the will of the people and the rituals and laws of the ancient saints, and formulate and implement laws to advocate, maintain and practice traditional rituals and laws. This is the greatest significance of the existence of laws.
During the Zhengde reign, the ingenious skills represented by science greatly facilitated the lives of the people, but science is only a tool. Eating refined salt and sugar and wearing cotton clothes and trousers does not mean that the words of the ancient sages are unreasonable. On the contrary, the more materialistic the society is, the more we should remember the traditional virtues of filial piety, loyalty, courtesy, righteousness, integrity, frugality and avoidance of extravagance, honesty and modesty. "
Yes, he used the four words "traditional virtues".
At the end, he added, "The order is issued by the cabinet. At the same time, a message should be sent to the cabinet, asking them to think of a way and do something to change the current social and official atmosphere, guide officials and the people to respect the elderly and love the young, and be kind-hearted. We cannot let the social atmosphere slide wantonly and uncontrollably. For words and actions that obviously violate traditional ethics, obviously pollute social atmosphere, and obviously hurt the feelings of the people, appropriate punishments should be imposed."
The city that never sleeps feels so luxurious to him.
If this is the case in the capital, the situation in the south of the Yangtze River will probably be even more exaggerated. If this continues, people's hearts will slowly change. When the day comes when disaster strikes, will they still follow the guidance of history and unite again?
Capitalists never have a patriotic concept. As long as they are paid, they will sell anything.
Zhu Houzhao wanted to learn the better aspects of Western culture, but he did not want to transform the entire country into a prototype of a modern Western country. From a broad historical perspective, the West was only powerful during the four or five hundred years of the Age of Discovery, and then began to rise in the East and decline in the West. It is hard to say what the West will become in a few hundred years.
He Tingren was slightly excited as he held the paper in his hand. "Your Majesty, do you want to re-promote the ethics?"
"When did I ever give up?"
(End of this chapter)