The posthumous posthumous issue of Zhang Xuan is not just a simple issue of Zhang Zhang's personal honor, but a political question of whether the Ming Empire should continue to reform.

It is precisely because of this that the trivial matter of whether Zhang Xuan can pursue Wenzheng has attracted great attention among the government and the opposition.

"As long as Your Majesty does not insist on posthumously posthumously reprimanding Zhang Xuan, it means that Your Majesty has no intention of reforming again, and in this way, Your Majesty will no longer use reformist officials, and we will have the opportunity to dig up Zhang Zhang's body later! Never let the successor change the etiquette law again! ”

Xu Jin, the secretary of the school, was discussing with the officials of the school department at this time.

As a reformer, Zhang Xuan not only opened a lot of taxes during the ruling cabinet, but also reformed the school, and for the first time implemented the examination and elimination method, and dismissed all unqualified students and school officials, which also cut off the financial route of the school.

Therefore, Xu Jin and other school officials also hated Zhang Xuan for a long time, so they were eager to dig up Zhang Zhang's body and brand him as a traitor, so as to avoid the second powerful cabinet chief assistant from taking office.

It's not just Xu Jin and other civil officials who are testing Emperor Zhu Houzhao's reaction and preparing to further stink Zhang Zhang, at this time, Xu Guangzuo, the Duke of Dingguo, is also feasting guests in the first restaurant in the capital: "I recently heard that Zhang Fu Jing drove to the west, the old man and I am very happy, it is really the old man who has eyes to everyone here, drink a cup together!" ”

"Good! Qiu did it first for respect! Zhang Fujing has hurt us, and now his death is truly a celebration for the whole country! ”

Xianning Hou Qiu Luan also agreed, slapped a woman's thigh, and touched it, the woman just frowned, and this Qiu Luan grabbed the woman's neck: "Damn, now that Zhang Fujing is dead, Lao Tzu is not afraid to kill you again!" Laugh at Lao Tzu, laugh happily! ”

The woman was pinched so that her face was red and her mouth was open, and her hand weakly grabbed Qiu Luan's brocade robe, and before she could react, she was kicked aside by Qiu Luan, and she could only forcibly squeeze out her smiling face for a while, and she only sighed in her heart that this Zhang Fujing had just died, and these powerful people in the capital began to reveal their true form, and they were not afraid of the law.

Although the Ming Dynasty is now independent in the judiciary and administration, Zhu Houzhao let Zhang Xuan concurrently serve as the head of the Central Committee of the Zhongjun Society in order to ensure the smooth implementation of Zhang Zhang's reform.

The officials of the Criminal Department, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Dali Temple are all members of the Zhongjun Society, and even Zhu Houzhao has set up a three law divisions of the Zhongjun Society, which makes Zhang Xuan indirectly have the power to manipulate the judiciary, and avoid being constrained by the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Criminal Department when Zhang Xuan is reforming.

After all, the Ming Dynasty has developed to the present, and there are more and more scholars in the common people's class, and they can no longer tolerate the magnates to take care of people's lives, and naturally they don't know why the emperor Zhu Houzhao, who is in the deep palace, agrees to let Zhang Xuan have the power of justice, and it is not that the magnates are too disobedient.

In any case, now Zhang Zhang's death is naturally a relief for the powerful, as if they can be free, they can kill people at will, at least in Qiu Luan's heart, Zhang Zhang's death made him feel as if the mountain pressing on his body had been removed, so he felt that the whole person was a lot easier.

It is even more disappointing that there are many people among the people who hate Zhang Zhang, disgusted with Zhang Zhang's reforms, and let themselves lose the opportunity to live a messy life.

"The first assistant of the cabinet, Mrs. Zhang, passed away, Your Majesty still dropped out of the dynasty for three days, why did you set off firecrackers for three days, and said that the thief was dead, and the world was clear?!"

In the edict prison, Jinyiwei asked Wang Shizhen, a student who was arrested.

Wang Shizhen replied awe-inspiringly: "Zhang Xuan is a cool official, levied heavy taxes to bankrupt the gentry's family, humiliated the children of the nobles of the clan with torture, and acted harshly, tens of thousands of people were laid off by him, so that countless suicides were committed, and he also encouraged the people to fight for his crimes, which was humiliating!" In addition, stealing the power of Tai'a is Wang Mang Cao Cao and his ilk, and now the traitors cannot escape the catastrophe, and their souls will return to hell, how can we not be happy! ”

……

The spring is cold.

The successor of the first assistant Xia Yan has just returned from the Daming Academy of Engineering, but at this time he did not have the slightest excitement to become the first assistant, the people's spontaneous counterattack against Zhang Xuan made him feel disappointed and frightened, he was not afraid of the counter-attack of the powerful and civil officials, but he was really afraid that he would not be understood by the people.

Now there are more and more voices in the imperial court suggesting that he cancel the heavy tax on mining in the Guannai and reduce the commercial tax and customs duties, but Xia Yan has been in the cabinet for many years, and he has long known that the tax policy of the empire cannot be opened at present, especially the heavy tax on mining in the Guannai, once this is banned, the capital and human resources of the Ming people will return to the Guannai again, and the Guanwai, which has just been developed, will return to the nomadic state again.

It will even lead to serious damage to the environment in the Kannai, as well as the destruction of more arable land, and the presence of a large number of slave laborers and aliens.

Therefore, starting from the interests of the country, Xia Yan knew that even if he became the first assistant, he could only follow the rules and continue to adhere to the strategy of external expansion, rather than the conservative strategy of internal development.

"But most people are selfish and short-sighted, they see that the Guannai is warm like spring and rich in mineral deposits, and the transportation conditions are convenient, if the slave labor is brought to the Guannai to develop minerals, there is no doubt that it will be profitable, but they don't develop the Guanwai first, the northwest Wara and the northeast of the female straight will sooner or later become a big disaster, the Guannai is not a paradise, how can it be alone in the United Nations!"

Xia Yan couldn't help but muttered to himself.

"Zhang Xuan is dead, the people's hardship can be solved", the headline on a page of a newspaper called "Beijing Political Talk" caught Xia Yan's attention, and Xia Yan couldn't help but shout and ask:

"The imperial court has not yet reached a conclusion about Zhang Xuan, and now Zhang Xuan is still the former chief assistant, the leader of the Ming Empire, who gave him such a big courage to discuss the auxiliary ministers! Ask the officials of the General Administration of Press and Publication of the Ministry of Rites how they passed the review! ”

"My lord is angry, this newspaper was opened by the second prince", Tang Shunzhi, a cabinet bachelor (newly established official position), couldn't help but remind Xia Yan.

Xia Yan didn't say anything more after hearing this, only sighed slightly after being quiet for a while, and said in his heart: "Maybe some general trends are really unstoppable." ”

It didn't take long for Xia Yan to get on the bus line to the imperial city, this special line is only qualified to sit on the officials of the previous dynasty, Zhu Houzhao will often take this special line out of the city, and now when Xia Yan came up, he happened to meet Zhu Houzhao who was also in the steam bus line, and couldn't help but bow deeply: "Your Majesty!" ”

Zhu Houzhao saw that it was Xia Yan, so he nodded, and then said: "It's really cold this day!" Obviously, it has passed spring, and a hundred flowers are waiting to bloom, but there is such a cold current that refuses to disperse! ”

Xia Yan naturally understood the meaning of Zhu Houzhao's words, and couldn't help but reply: "Spring, summer, autumn and winter, cold comes and goes, there is always a reincarnation throughout the year, and the alternation of hot and cold is also common, Your Majesty should pay attention to the dragon body, as long as the country has a virtuous monarch, whether it is cold or hot, the world is still prosperous after all." ”

"I know that the land under our feet is too attractive, just like the embrace of a mother, the jade body of a wife, no one can leave, no one wants to go far away from the bitter cold land, and no one wants to leave their hometown, after all, my Ming Dynasty contains countless treasures in this thousand miles of rivers and mountains", Zhu Houzhao's meaning is very clear, it is nothing more than that he also knows that geographical factors make most of the Han people in the Ming Dynasty tend to be conservative from the bones.

Xia Yan also understood the meaning of Zhu Houzhao's words, and replied: "But there is not only China in the world, and there are not only Han people in the world, staying in a state of peace and happiness, it is inevitable to decline, once the strong neighbors are killed and plundered, the rivers and mountains will inevitably change color, the minister understands His Majesty, and also understands Zhang Gong, otherwise he would not join the Zhongjun Society, but now everyone in the world does not understand, and even the imperial heir has unreasonable people, the minister is worried that after a hundred years, my Ming Dynasty will still inevitably repeat the mistakes of the past, even if the minister is willing to follow the rules, regardless of life and death, only for the family and the country!" ”

"Who is it?!"

Zhu Houzhao looked at Xia Yan with some seriousness.

Xia Yan looked around, he knew that he was in front of the emperor now, and there was a danger of offending the emperor's heir, but in order to let His Majesty have a clearer understanding of the current situation, he had to say it, and now His Majesty wanted to ask, and he had to answer truthfully: "Second Highness, this is a news item from "Capital Political Talk", according to the reminder of Tang Shunzhi, a cabinet scholar, this publication is run by His Royal Highness. ”

Zhu Hou glanced at Tang Shun.

Tang Shunzhi was extremely depressed in his heart, thinking to himself why this Shoufu Lord sold himself directly, and now he can only immediately prostrate on the ground: "Chen, Chen only heard about it when he was studying at Jingshi University. ”

"Get up, you don't have to say anything about this, I just know", Zhu Houzhao said, and looked out the window again, he also had to admit that he could always insist on external expansion, and he could also elect the cabinet chief assistant and other important members who have always insisted on external expansion, but his life span is limited, if the new emperor ascends the throne in the future, will the new emperor insist on external expansion, will he also seek peace and tend to be conservative, history proves that even the so-called Ming Jun Emperor will also ban the sea, and even prefer the sea ban, I prefer to close my country.

This made Zhu Houzhao wonder in his heart whether he wanted to carry out a reform that limited the monarch's power.

Is it useful to limit the power of the monarch?

Now the majority of the people in the world tend to be conservative, and the monarch's power is restricted, which means that the national ruling organs will represent the will of the majority, which tends to be more conservative.

How can Daming still maintain a state of expansion, opening up and even aggressiveness after a hundred years?

"It is impossible to count on any emperor, and it is impossible to count on the majority, because the truth is sometimes not in the hands of the majority, after all, even the rebellious peasants do not know why they rebelled, and the only way may be to let the ideology dictatorship, and let the idea of external expansion and opening up to the outside world always dictatorship the Ming Dynasty! If the dictatorship continues, whether it is the emperor or the first assistant or other people in power, if they want to sit firmly in their positions, they can only accept this kind of thinking, and they can only obey this kind of thinking! ”

Zhu Houzhao suddenly said this, Xia Yan couldn't help but be surprised, and asked, "What does Your Majesty mean to be orthodox with the law and constitution?" But the ancestors can still change the law, how can the law and constitution not be changed. ”

"Although the ancestral law can be changed, it can not be abolished, the same is true of the constitution, the Ming Dynasty needs to enter the constitutional era, and now there is no doubt that what we need to do is to strengthen the people's constitutional consciousness, strengthen the constitutional consciousness of the rulers, the Zhongjun Society plays a major role in this, we cannot guarantee that everyone in the world has the idea of opening up to the outside world and expanding to the outside world, but the members of the Zhongjun Society must have! It must also be pure! ”

After Zhu Houzhao said this, he motioned for Xia Yan to sit down and said: "Now it can only be like this, children and grandchildren have their own children and grandchildren, and the world is the same, we can't control the world in the future, we can only manage the present!" ”

"I understand! Obey the Divine Commandment! ”

Xia Yan arched his hand and said.

……

Syllable!

With a crisp sound, the second prince Zhu Zaiyan smashed the glass in his hand, and said angrily: "This Xia Yan doesn't want to save face at all!" ”

"Your Highness, why is it like this, now he is the first assistant of the cabinet, and he has also taken over Zhang Xuan's position in the Zhongjun Society, except for His Majesty the Emperor, he has the final say in the world! I think that Zhu Houhan of King Zheng's Mansion was not executed by Zhang Xuan back then, but now it is just to let His Majesty know that you are dissatisfied with Zhang Zhang, and the imperial heir is dissatisfied with the fact that there are more things to do on the spot, which is nothing, now the focus is on what His Majesty is thinking, the empirical evidence of the Metropolitan Procuratorate's impeachment of Zhang Zhang's fraud in the imperial examination has been submitted for so long, and there has been no response, I am afraid that this Xia Yan deliberately sold you in front of the emperor, and he also wanted to test His Majesty's intentions. ”

Zhu Zaeyan's staff said.

After hearing this, Zhu Zaiyan couldn't help but laugh angrily: "So, this king still has to visit this new Shoufu?" ”

"No need, Your Highness just wait and see what happens, at the moment Your Majesty has been deliberately avoiding talking about the matter of the prince, which is obviously dissatisfied with His Royal Highness being the prince, and His Majesty is very fond of the queen's mother, so, there is no doubt that Your Highness and the Third Highness are more liked by Your Majesty, but now Xia Yan's move really makes us passive, from a small point of view, no matter whether this matter is good or bad, we should stop the "Capital Political Talk" first."

This Zhu Zaeyan's staff said.

Zhu Zaiyan also nodded, and ordered someone to stop "Beijing Political Talk".

……

Tang Shunyi was eating steamed pork ribs with potatoes, and at the same time took out a newspaper from his sleeve and handed it to Hai Rui: "Take a good look, this is probably the last issue." ”

When Hai Rui saw that the title of the newspaper was "The Political Talk of the Capital", he couldn't help but be surprised for a while: "Isn't this opened by His Royal Highness the Second Highness, how can it be the last issue and stop publication?" ”

"This thing, it's really a child without a mother, it's a long story, don't look at the way of life has changed now, but the court is still so complicated, the big guy in the cabinet really dares to say anything to His Majesty, he didn't implicate me, I just gave him a wake-up call, and blamed me for talking too much......"

Tang Shunzhi told what he had seen and heard.

Hai Rui was not very interested in Tang Shunzhi's experience, only interested in the topic of His Majesty the Emperor on strengthening constitutional construction mentioned by Tang Shunzhi, as a young man who grew up in the Zhengde Dynasty, he personally experienced the rapid changes of this era, and also received a different education in this era, and Emperor Zhu Houzhao's judgment made him feel empowered.

But at this time, Hai Rui was naturally not qualified to enter the core layer of the Ming Empire, and the only thing he could do now was to ask himself curiously, as if asking Tang Shunzhi: "You say, what kind of thought does Your Majesty want to set as the constitution of the Ming Dynasty?" ”

Tang Shunzhi smiled slightly, he knew Hai Rui because Emperor Zhu Houzhao issued an edict to establish the Royal Academy in order to educate the children of the clan, and at the same time played a positive role in guiding the children of the clan, and required the Royal Academy to regularly recruit a certain proportion of the children of the family and the poor family as students, and provide them with free education, and the two of them were fearless of the domineering behavior of the children of the clan and became good friends.

Because of this, Tang Shunzhi was unwilling to hide it from Hai Rui, and said: "I don't hide it, I don't know what law the Son of Heaven wants to use as the constitution, but at least the outline of the constitution will add the content of opening up to the outside world and changing the law internally. ”

Hai Rui nodded, and he couldn't help clapping his hands: "Hai has decided to join the Zhongjun Society too!" ”

Tang Shunzhi smiled: "Then I'll be your introducer." ”

However, not long after Hai Rui applied to join the Zhongjun Society, an edict came to Tang Shunzhi, and the content of the edict was that he was not suitable to stay in the center, so he was demoted to the Daming Army Command College to study military affairs.

Zhu Houzhao still asked Dongchang to investigate the fraud of Zhang Xuan for his son to participate in the imperial examination, and after the final results were confirmed, it turned out to be evidence fabricated by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, because Zhang Zhang's children and nephews did not participate in the township examination because of Zhang Zhang's forced order.

"What can you all do, the innocence of the head of the cabinet actually depends on the people of Dongchang to prove his innocence! Zuodu Yushi Zhang Zan hanged himself to apologize! ”

After Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, he turned to Xia Yan and ordered: "And the one who impeached Zhang Xuan will be killed with a cane!" As a constitutional official, impeaching the minister indiscriminately, and not punishing him severely is not enough to correct the dynasty! ”

Zhu Houzhao's disposition shook the government and the opposition like a thunderbolt from the sky, everyone didn't expect that His Majesty the Emperor would still protect Zhang Xuan like this, and Xu Jin, the secretary of the school, had to be silent again, and put his dissatisfaction with Zhang Xuan in his heart for the time being, and even the powerful people such as Xu Guangzuo, the Duke of Dingguo, and Qiu Luan, the Marquis of Xianning, also kept a low profile, and did not dare to express the slightest dissatisfaction with Zhang Zhang.

The government at the bottom also knew the meaning of the song and began to actively arrest those who slandered Zhang Xuan in private.

But Zhu Houzhao knew that his behavior was only temporarily suppressing the resentment of the people of the world against Zhang Xuan, as if temporarily sealing a volcano that was about to erupt with severe ice, but this volcano would have to erupt sooner or later, and the more he pressed it like this, the more magma that would erupt at that time.

However, how long can it be pressed, under the instruction of Zhu Houzhao, Xia Yan, the first assistant of the cabinet, still asked the Ministry of Rites to posthumously admonish Zhang Zhang, so that this matter came to an end for the time being, Xia Yan admired the courage of His Majesty the Emperor, but also deeply felt his own pressure, but the emperor's behavior undoubtedly made him more confident, and had the confidence to continue to implement the policy of external expansion and opening to the outside world.

Of course, continuing such a policy is not really going to make the world chaotic, and the vested interests just want to turn the Guannai into their hunting ground, and now the emperor and the court are unwilling, not that they can't survive, and they can only continue to plunder outside the Guan, and plunder overseas.

As long as the vast majority of the common people can survive, even if the vassal kings rebel, the generals mutiny, and the civil officials engage in conspiracies, there is no way to overthrow the Ming Dynasty.

However, Zhu Houzhao began to demand a higher level of ideology, and at the same time, he also intensified his propaganda of this ideology.

Thereupon.

From the education in the classroom, to the newspaper articles in the media, the conversations of officials at all levels, and even the research articles of scholars, the idea of opening up to the outside world has been fried over and over again, so that the people of the whole world have to admit that this is the right path.

From officialdom to shopping malls and even academics, the members of Zhongjun Club quickly occupied various important positions.

Unconsciously, the Ming Dynasty was no longer a Confucian rule but a party political state.

But in any case, Zhu Houzhao could not avoid the question of the succession to the throne and the question of how much power the successor should have.

"Now it seems that whoever becomes the core figure of the Zhongjun Society can control the court, but if this continues, even if this king becomes the emperor, what can he do, does the world really let them have the final say in the Zhongjun Society? But the loyal monarch is loyal to the king, but there has never been a theory to listen to the king's words, they regard the king as a country, but this king doesn't want to just represent this country, this king also wants to own this country! ”

The third prince, Zhu Zaiyan, said a little depressed.

Immediately, Zhu Zaiyan couldn't help but say more angrily: "This is all a good thing that Zhang Xuan did!" There are also Xu Jin and Wang Hua! ”

"Why should the third child be angry with others, if it weren't for the Son of Heaven to do this, how could they do this," Zhu Houxi said.

Zhu Zaiwei couldn't help but be a little nervous when he heard Zhu Houxi say this: "What Uncle Huang said is right, but I don't understand why the one who gave birth to me did this!" Also, you say, why did he delay letting his eldest brother become the prince! ”

Zhu Houxi looked around again, and then said: "According to Uncle Huang, he is confused, and even he doesn't know what he is doing, no matter what, Uncle Huang believes that other princes don't understand your father like you, maybe he has some complaints, what you have to do now is to calm down, no matter whether you can reach the top in the future or not, you have to find a way to persuade Your Majesty to be the king overseas, the world is so big, whether it is the current emperor or the future emperor, how can you manage it, go overseas to tear the soil and seal the king first, In the future, if you can be appointed by Your Majesty as the prince, it will be better to return to Middle-earth to be the emperor, if not, if you can't have a million male soldiers, why worry about not being able to achieve great things! ”

"You're right, the world is not only Kyushu, but the fat and fertile wilderness is not, but my father doesn't know what to think now, neither the prince nor the king overseas, only thinking about science and technology and industry, and if we continue like this, we will also follow the old!"

After Zhang Heling sailed around the world, the vision of the Chinese people also changed, at this time, not only Zhu Houyu put his vision overseas, Zhu Zaiwei also began to have a global vision, did not limit his eyes to China, and even couldn't help complaining about Zhu Houzhao.