Sun Chengzong had taught the Apocalypse for a while, and now he saw that the Apocalypse had asked him for Mencius's words, so he began to think about what he could suggest, of course he would not make a big sense of Mencius's words, because he had taught those words back then, and there was no need to say them now. Since the Apocalypse is solemn, it must be that the country is in trouble, looking at the current big tomorrow, the ten-year rebellion in Guizhou has been resolved, and the battle with the Jurchens has now come to an end temporarily.

Sun Chengzong asked: "At the beginning of the year, the Military Affairs Yuan was ready to pull Zhao Shujiao's people to Nanguan, but the emperor said that there was an urgent matter in Nanjing that required Zhao Shujiao to stay there to cooperate with the implementation of government affairs. If that's the case, the place to make trouble should be Nan Zhili? ”

Tianqi nodded and said: "This incident started from Nanzhili, and Zhao Shujiao's army stayed there just to be prepared, and if you really want to calm down the incident, you can't go directly to the army." Wu Zetian once said that the common people would not rebel if they had something to eat, and she had a certain amount of truth in what she said, but she did not say it all, in the case that everyone has something to eat, the size of the gap between the rich and the poor determines whether the place is stable, and if the gap between the rich and the poor is large, it is easy to have accidents, and the gap is small, so it must be stable. The poor want to narrow the gap and achieve equality, the rich want to widen the gap and become superior, and the contradictions in ideas and practices produce opposition. ”

Sun Chengzong thought for a while and said: "The poor want to be equal, which is in line with the sense of equality that the emperor has always advocated, but the interests of the rich also need to be taken care of. However, the minister didn't understand that since there was a contradiction between the poor and the rich, how could he turn the contradiction to the imperial court? Is there someone doing something in the shadows? ”

Tianqi said: "This must be someone pushing the boat along the river, whether it is land production or trade exchanges, the final income is generally divided into three parts, the tax of the court, the income of the boss or landlord, the remuneration of tenants or helpers, the landlord and the tenant feel that there is less and naturally want to lower the income of the court." ”

Sun Chengzong shook his head and said, "They have joined forces to make a fuss, but no matter how much trouble the landlords and tenants make, they shouldn't need Zhao Shujiao's army, right?" Does the emperor have any other worries? ”

Tianqi said: "According to Wei Zhongxian, there are not many people in private this time, but they are widely distributed, especially some gangs such as the Cao Gang and the Salt Gang are involved, and the reason why I want to reach a peace agreement with Huang Taiji is that I want to concentrate on rectifying the rear after having an agreement." When the front is in a war, it is difficult for the rear to let go and straighten out, otherwise it will be troublesome for these people to make trouble and delay the delivery of money and grain. Most of the people taught by Zhao are people who are engaged in construction, and they usually have a good relationship with the common people and rarely disturb the people. ”

Sun Chengzong nodded and said: "It's not good to say much about the ministers in government affairs, since the emperor wants to let go of rectification after stability, he needs a stable external environment, and if he really wants to stabilize the ministers, he also has a good suggestion, neither too weak nor troublesome." The result of this negotiation is to maintain the status quo for three years, and if there is a fight, it must be controlled to less than 1,000 people, and the minister thinks that he can send another letter to Huang Taiji, telling him that it is better not to have an army between the two sides in the actual control area now, that is, between Jinzhou and Nanguan, and between Daling River and Guangning, what do you think, Emperor? ”

Tianqi thought for a while and said: "You can say that, but we have to explain to Yuan Chonghuan and Mao Wenlong clearly, it's best for us not to cause trouble this year, but if there are Jurchens who come to make trouble, we will double our counterattack if he makes trouble a few times, and we can't weaken the prestige of my Ming Dynasty." ”

Sun Chengzong said that it was inconvenient for him to talk more about government affairs, and Tianqi did not say much, and after he left, he ordered someone to inform everyone in the prison court, saying that he would go to see the results of their deliberations tomorrow, so that they could prepare early. Wei Zhongxian was good at conspiracies, so he had an extraordinary sense of smell, and he was also extremely sensitive to people who engaged in conspiracy. During a chance reconnaissance of the Middle East factory, he found some letters, the pseudonyms used by both the writer and the recipient of the letters, and many of them also used hidden words, but Wei Zhongxian knew that this letter was unusual when he heard it.

Most of these letters are normal greetings, but the most common sentence is Mencius's sentence of 'the people are your society, and the second king is light', such words are mixed in the greeting letters, which is really a bit nondescript, Wei Zhongxian immediately asked someone to move down the vine and grab a few people. According to the original guarantee of the apocalypse, Dongchang has no right to arrest, and can only reconnoiter and inquire about the news, fortunately, Wei Zhongxian also has two nephews who are Jinyiwei, Jinyiwei dispatched people to grab a few people and interrogate them, these people not only did not deny it, but directly said the truth, that is, they want to elect administrative officials and auxiliary political officials, the reason is that the words of the saint are the people of your society, and the king is secondary.

Wei Zhongxian heard that the problem was big, and immediately reported to the apocalypse, and presented the original letter and temporarily handed over the captured person to the local government for detention. Tianqi found that the people involved were very miscellaneous, and at that time Liaodong was at war, and the Ming army and the Jurchens were playing hide and seek in the middle of you advancing and I retreating, and it was difficult to deal with it immediately, so I had to negotiate with the Jurchens while asking the Prison Yuan to urge all departments to find a way.

The next day, Tianqi came to the prison early in the morning, and when he entered, he found that several people were very calm, and they all looked confident, and they couldn't help but feel quite satisfied with their hearts, and said that this is not the same with a helper and without a helper. After everyone sat down, Apocalypse first asked King Xin: "Now that someone is asking officials to be elected through election, what does King Xin think about this?" ”

King Xin said: "In fact, the senior officials of the Ming Dynasty have always been elected, that is, what everyone calls the court push, which is elected by everyone rather than directly appointed by the emperor, which reflects the purpose of the king and the scholars to rule the world together." How officials are selected is a matter for the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the younger brother thinks that whether they are directly appointed or elected, as long as they can do things. Like Zhang Juzheng back then, he was not introduced by the court, but who dares to say that Zhang Juzheng is not a good first assistant? Although the system he implemented was criticized as too harsh, it seems that those systems are indeed effective, and many new systems and precedents in the Government Council have the shadow of Zhang Juzheng. ”

Tianqi said in a little surprise: "Those people just want to elect some petty officials that they are satisfied with, how can you believe that the king directly talked about the first assistant, you must know that your current prime minister Wang is equivalent to the first assistant, are you too tired and want to be lazy?" ”

King Xin hurriedly said: "The younger brother doesn't want to be lazy, in fact, many people in the court are more talented than the younger brother, and the old minister doesn't need to say that Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru, who are new to help with government affairs, are more comfortable than their younger brothers in handling affairs." The position of the prime minister is very important, and the minister just thinks that it is the right thing to use the best person to sit in the most critical position, and when there is no one, the minister is naturally duty-bound, and there are really smart people who should abdicate and make way for the virtuous. ”

King Xin's words made Tianqi wonder, how could his most trusted brother actually have the intention of retreating, Gao Panlong saw that King Xin explained a little reluctantly, so he said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that King Xin's words are sincere, if there are really people like Jiang Ziya and Zhang Zifang in the future, King Xin can specialize in the Supervision Yuan." The minister's words were also sincere, and seeing that King Xin was only twenty years old, he saw gray hair on his sideburns, so that he could be more relaxed in the Prison Yuan. ”

Hearing this, Tianqi couldn't help but turn his eyes and look at King Xin carefully, only to see that there were indeed a few strands of white hair in his ears, and his originally somewhat round face was now slightly thin, and he sighed in his heart and whispered: "Then let's say this first, but everything must be carefully considered, just like King Xin said at the beginning, no matter how officials are produced, as long as they are qualified and can do things, and those who are unqualified and incompetent will not be able to do things no matter how he comes from." When the time comes, the prime minister can be elected, but now King Shin still has to keep an eye on the Government Council and slowly focus on the Supervisory Yuan. ”

King Xin said: "The younger brother obeys the order, and now the old ministers and new ministers in the government council are more effective, and many things are done by the younger ministers. ”

Tianqi nodded and turned around and asked Gao Panlong: "I started to believe that the king said that how the officials were produced is the matter of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, what does Lord Gao think of those people's requirements?" Do you think what they say makes sense? ”

Gao Panlong said: "In fact, this incident itself was caused by the emperor, since the year before last the emperor began to implement the four-level auxiliary government system from top to bottom, in the past three years the auxiliary political organs at all levels have been relatively perfect, but also added many new issues, that is, who should be composed of auxiliary political institutions. In the past, the people were very simple, and no one dared to say no to what the government asked them to do, because they thought that the officials were managing the party on behalf of the Son of Heaven, and all orders would be obeyed unconditionally. Now when they find that their opinions can be recognized, they have to fight over everything, and many times the matter itself is not important, but the most important thing is to be able to fight. ”

Apocalypse said, "Isn't that great?" It embodies Mencius's idea that the people are precious, and fighting for the sake of quarrel is actually wanting to have a voice and prove one's existence, which is the germ of the consciousness of equality. We should now find a way to steer this behavior to the good side, that it's better to let people talk than not to let people talk, okay? ”

Liu Zongzhou said at this time: "Your Majesty, the ministers have different views on this, it is definitely better to let people speak than not to let people speak, but in addition to speaking and not talking, there is another kind of nonsense. We don't know what a person means when he doesn't speak, and we don't know what he is talking about when he talks in a crowd surrounded by people who are talking non-stop. It is only when a person expresses his opinion quietly that we can know his true intentions. ”