Wang Hua, the first assistant of the cabinet, never imagined that nearly two hundred years after the death of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, the torture of peeling the skin and grass to punish corruption would appear again.

And this time it appeared because of the pressure of public opinion.

No one can point out that this was due to the Emperor's brutality.

"Now His Majesty the Emperor still cares about us ordinary people, a big corrupt official like Lu Zhaoji, even if the officials of the Criminal Department want to protect him, but after we, the people, asked for this big corrupt official to be severely punished according to the law, His Majesty our Emperor still followed the wishes of our people!"

"Yes, the emperor today is indeed a good emperor, let us ordinary people also be literate, let our children also read, and reduce taxes and rent for the emperor, we really have to chant Buddha for us!"

……

When Wang Hua Weifu paid a private visit, he could only shake his head and smile bitterly after hearing these discussions, he knew that if he went to tell these people at this time, he was a cruel king, a ruthless king, and even because Lu Zhaoji said that the emperor did not know that the queen was not virtuous, he would use the people and public opinion and Lu Zhaoji was forced to go to the point of being stripped of the skin, these people would definitely not believe it, and even beat themselves, angrily scolding themselves for being a relative of a corrupt official's family, and complaining about His Majesty the Emperor to slander His Majesty the Emperor like this.

Wang Hua had to admit that his civil official clique failed to turn His Majesty the Emperor into a sage who conformed to Confucian etiquette, not because his own civil servants were not clever enough, but because His Majesty the Emperor seemed to know more than his own civil officials, especially in the aspect of governing the country, the current Son of Heaven seems to have many practical and mature theories of governance.

Wang Hua knew that the reason why he was able to use the people to build momentum and successfully used public opinion to force the civil officials to crack down on disloyal ministers was because His Majesty the Emperor had implemented universal education and improved the literacy rate of the common people a few years ago, which had led to most of the commoners becoming scholars.

Because of this, more and more people began to pay attention to the rise and fall of the world, especially those who are more and more poor scholars, it is obvious that the Zhongjun Society is getting bigger and bigger, and even the organization is very tight, this time the court can force Lu Zhaoji to peel the skin and grass, but also because Tang Bohu used the Zhongjun Society to organize a strong demonstration team.

Wang Hua did not expect that the "education for all" and "literacy eradication action" implemented by His Majesty the Emperor a few years ago would lead to the phenomenon that it would be difficult for the people to manage, for the officials to be in charge, and for the Son of Heaven to be even more difficult to admonish.

"At the beginning, the old man only thought that learning was good governance, and letting people in the world practice literature and martial arts was always beneficial to the family and the country, and it was the right way!

Therefore, support Your Majesty to do this, and even praise it on the congratulatory table, saying that it is Your Majesty's virtue and politics!

But the old man didn't expect that in this way, it would make it more difficult for the people of the world to control, and the people could make it impossible to know it.

Could it be that the sage really thinks that foolish people are the foundation of governing the country, but if so, how can the study be good governance? ”

Wang Hua felt that he was now more and more unable to understand what the fundamental concept of Confucian governance was that he had learned, and he was very reluctant to admit that the Confucian etiquette he had pursued for many years was a policy of fooling the people, and he was not willing to believe that the sage really wanted to make the people stupid, but he had to admit that it seemed that it was better to govern by making the people stupid, and similarly, it seemed that if the Son of Heaven was too holy, he didn't seem to be very comfortable as a court official.

Wang Hua angrily slapped the "Analects" in his hand on the table: "Why, the ancient sage book does not add sentences to read!" How does this make people in this world interpret it! If it is misunderstood, will it really harm the world, whether it is to fool the people and be good, or to enlighten the people's wisdom and goodness! ”

Wang Hua was very puzzled, he felt that he had lived in vain for decades, and regarded a book of the Four Books and Five Classics annotated by Zhu Zi as the only truth of self-cultivation and governing the country, but only now did he find out that the Confucian teachings annotated by Zhu Zi had not understood what the true meaning of the sage was from the beginning! Otherwise, these civil officials would not have been forced by His Majesty to learn arithmetic and Mojia.

In any case, Wang Hua is now more and more in awe of Zhu Houzhao, he doesn't know what his majesty has learned, why he knew the way of money ten years ago, set up a royal bank, and tied his Wang family and several other families together, forcing his Wang family and several other families to do everything possible to increase income for the treasury.

And the purpose is not so noble, Wang Hua doesn't think that Jiao Fang and Liu Jin and other eunuchs are really thinking about Da Ming, he knows that they are trying their best to increase the income of the treasury just because only by increasing the income of the treasury can the profits of the Royal Bank rise, and can their family get more profits.

But it was this kind of purpose that made these internal and external officials follow His Majesty's reform with all their hearts, first passing the law and then clearing the acres of land, and even recovering the Hetao to open up border trade and trade between the two countries.

Wang Hua admired Emperor Zhu Houzhao even more for being able to establish a more reasonable system, and even invented many new words, such as the word system, Wang Hua didn't know when he was not surprised at all when he thought of this word, and even had the concepts of economy, country, and civilization.

"No wonder his son would say that His Majesty the Emperor is the first saint in ancient and modern times, but Wang Yun, this kid seems to be much smarter than his father, but he realized that His Majesty was an extraordinary person many years ago, and donated all his family property to support His Majesty, so that he brought great wealth and power to the Wang family, and even with him, he also figured out his mind and started his own sect!"

Wang Hua thought about it and thought of his son Wang Shouren, who was far away in Jiangxi, and couldn't help but show a little pride on his face, thinking that maybe his son knew His Majesty better than himself.

Although Wang Hua admits that Emperor Zhu Houzhao is not a simple emperor, he does not like Emperor Zhu Houzhao, he always feels that his majesty the emperor is not like a normal emperor, but like a son of heaven who has just changed from a common man to an emperor, and in his bones he seems to have natural hostility towards his officials, and has a natural pity for the common people, and even doesn't care whether his Zhu family's country can be passed on forever, and he only thinks about whether Chinese civilization can prosper.

Wang Hua clearly remembered that His Majesty the Emperor said that it was a big deal after he was forced to be in a hurry, and I would return to the people to occupy the mountain and rebel again.

"Your Majesty, it can't really be the reincarnation of Taizu!"

Wang Hua thought so in his heart, and at this time, he saw Zhu Houzhao appear in the cabinet and the celebrant duty room, so he hurriedly put away the Analects, got up and saluted: "I've seen Your Majesty!" ”

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but laugh when he saw this: "Shou Yu still has the leisure to read the Analects, do you want to learn from Zhao Pu and use half of the Analects to rule the world for me?" ”

"Your Majesty smiled, the minister has just been confused recently, I don't know what the words of the saint is, how is the truth, and I am thinking hard about it", Wang Hua replied.

"The truth is not spoken by the saints, it is discovered by oneself, whether the tea is bitter or not, you have to drink it yourself to know, what do you say, Shou Yu?"

Zhu Houzhao replied, he knew that he had recently instructed the royal literati of the Hanlin Academy and his chamberlain to re-evaluate and supervise the officials and scholars of the heavens, which made the civil officials panic and were afraid of making the slightest mistake, and they all behaved properly.

Zhu Houzhao could also guess that these literati and doctors had a new understanding of public opinion, and they would definitely gradually realize some of the existing contradictions between the power of the common people and their own as officials as rulers and the common people because of these recent events.

In order to prevent these scholars, especially the civil officials in the DPRK, from becoming more selfish, he only knows that opening the people's wisdom will make it difficult for the people to manage, but he does not know that opening the people's wisdom will make the country progress and the nation progress, so he will now find the right opportunity to enlighten some of the civil officials around him.

"Truth to be discovered by oneself?"

Zhu Houzhao's seemingly unintentional words made Wang Hua's heart set off a trace of waves, and he felt that Zhu Houzhao's words had the effect of enlightenment, and he suddenly realized that he had forgotten the fundamental principle of governing the country and not learning, so he hurriedly looked at Zhu Houzhao deeply:

"Thank Your Majesty for your teaching, Mencius said, it is better to believe in the book, it is better to have no book, now I think about it, this is the truth, the minister decided to resign, re-study, and ask Your Majesty for permission!"

Zhu Houzhao was a little stunned, thinking that the fundamental purpose of what he said casually just now was just to make a civil official like Wang Hua understand that he should take the initiative to think and not be bound by Cheng Zhu Lixue, but he didn't expect that Wang Hua would directly think of resigning.

"It's very sudden, tell me your reasons," Zhu Houzhao said.

"What Your Majesty just said, let the minister realize that what the minister learns is someone else's words, after all, the minister is still not as good as the dog, and he failed to find the truth of the world that he thinks, so he can't learn to be a good minister, and the minister thinks that His Majesty needs more is a capable minister who can deal with the complex situation and dare to innovate as the first assistant, although the minister's virtue can but the resourcefulness is insufficient, assisting His Majesty for three or five years may be able to protect the peace of the world, but if you stay for a few more years, it will only mislead the country and the king and the world!"

Wang Hua replied.

"You are also an ancient person, no matter what, I will allow you to ask, but since you want to study again, you don't have to return to your hometown to study again, the Ming Dynasty is at a time of change, there is a shortage of talents, if you want to serve the country, can you go to the National Academy of Administration to teach, for these officials who will become important ministers of the country in the future, teach them the way to be ministers, and teach you the experience of managing the household department and using the royal bank to allocate the world's money and grain!"

Zhu Houzhao asked.

Wang Hua naturally would not refuse, and he did his best to die, which was his belief, so he hurriedly agreed.

However, before Wang Hua resigned from his post as chief assistant to teach at the National Academy of Administration, he used his power as the first assistant to the cabinet to preside over the last court meeting after obtaining Zhu Houzhao's approval.

In this court meeting, he summoned all the civil officials in the capital, and he wanted to explain the reason to the civil officials of the Zhengde Dynasty before resigning.

After all, he did not want the civil official clique to become more corrupt and degenerate after the imperial court became more corrupt and degenerate, and the contradictions with the Son of Heaven and the common people became more intense, nor did he want the civil official clique to split or even evolve into a party struggle due to the impact of various ideas at the moment.