In free time, time is fleeting.

Before I knew it, it was the New Year's Day festival of the seventh year of Wanli.

The ancients attached great importance to the Yuan Xi, and basically held a large lantern festival from the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, which was lively and lively.

Since the Song Dynasty, the most prestigious event of the Yuan Xi Festival is the Aoshan Fireworks and Lantern Festival.

And because of whether the Aoshan Fireworks and Lantern Festival should continue to be held, Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng also had disagreements.

According to Zhang Juzheng's meaning, the Aoshan fireworks and lanterns will cost a lot of money, and should be abolished, rather than luxury.

Mainly because Confucianism is inherently frugality.

As the Analects says: "The Master is gentle, kind, respectful, thrifty, and let him get it." What the Master asks for is also different from what people ask for. ”

Frugality is one of the five virtues advocated by Confucianism.

Therefore, not only Zhang Juzheng, but also many famous ministers in history have the governing concept of advocating thrift and suppressing luxury, and therefore developed to the point that there are many local officials in history, and they will also prohibit the entertainment of the people, and in the name of the emperor's style, they will prohibit the holding of social temples and social dramas.

Of course, there is also a reason for the fear of the people gathering together.

In short, many bureaucrats and doctors do not advocate that the people have their own entertainment life.

Even many scholars and doctors still advocate that the entertainment of the common people is strictly prohibited, even if it is a capable and good official, because of their own class and the influence of the knowledge they have learned, they are more inclined to advocate that the people be educated by Confucianism, understand the five virtues of Confucianism, and cultivate and weave diligently, and should not set up obscene shrines, worship extravagance, and ruin the atmosphere.

It's just bureaucrats, doctors, many of them have a hard time doing it themselves.

Including Zhang Juzheng himself, he is ideologically thrifty, and he is also very strict in governing his family, and he never allows his children to compete for wealth and luxury.

But he himself has a hard time doing that.

Not to mention other doctors.

Therefore, many bureaucrats and doctors worship frugality and prohibit luxury, and only ban it on the common people.

Zhang Juzheng is the same, although he also indulges in lust and pursuit of luxury in life, for example, according to Lu Shusheng, who was the secretary of the Ming Dynasty in history, recalled that Zhang Juzheng would change his clothes four times after a meal, but he did advocate frugality in thought.

Zhu Yijun has been asked to be frugal and reduce court consumption several times in history.

"Your Majesty, since Longqing, it has been the entertainment of the New Year's Eve, and it is useless to spend money, so it is advisable to save on the new policy."

Zhang Juzheng also said this to Zhu Yijun at this time.

Zhu Yijun said: "But now that the national funds are abundant, not to mention, the fireworks and lantern festival in Yiao Mountain will not cost much silver, but it will make the people happier, and the commodity trade can be more developed." And tax revenues will undoubtedly increase as a result. More importantly, it can benefit the people and increase their income. ”

"Your Majesty! It is enough for the imperial court to solve the difficulties of the small people, so why blindly help them become rich and gentry? ”

"The first thing to govern is to enrich the country, and then to strengthen the army, and it can make the Zongmiao community long-term and stable, and benefiting the people is just a incidental thing."

"Your Majesty's goal now is to enrich the people, not the herdsmen's good policy."

"Because people have nothing to do, once the people are rich, they will seek nobility, and once they are rich, they will seek peace, therefore, if Your Majesty does not worship thrift to suppress people's desires, it will be difficult to fill the desires of the people, and it will be difficult for the society to be safe."

Zhang Juzheng spoke at this time, and said: "Your Majesty may read "Han Feizi" and "Shangjun Shu" again, not just Tongjian!" ”

Shen Lizheng, who was in charge of the living notes on the side, quickly recorded the conversation between Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng, and because he heard Zhang Juzheng say this, he raised his head suddenly, and looked at this Shoufu, who was also his teacher, in surprise.

He obviously also realized that the Son of Heaven really had a conflict with the first assistant Zhang Juzheng in the concept of governing the country.

Zhu Yijun also knows that Zhang Juzheng, who is both a Confucian and a law-cultivator, has always been reforming and teaching himself from the perspective of safeguarding the interests of the entire ruling class of the Ming Dynasty, but he is not really on the side of the common people, and he is really bent on letting the common people live a happy life.

In this regard, Zhu Yijun was not surprised.

Because Zhang Juzheng's restructuring is really just for the long-term prosperity of the Ming Dynasty and the long-term stability of the society.

Therefore, when Zhang Ju was carrying out such a reform as clearing the acres of fields, he was persuading the big landlords of this era to "give out their savings and finish the accumulation of years".

And, when expressing his reform purpose in front of Zhu Yijun, Zhang Juzheng only said: "Spend your life on the firm strategy, Zeliu Miao descendants", that is, he just wants to make his monarch have a better life in the future, and he can be the king of later generations.

It is not to say that the people of the world should be rich, and the people of the world should really be freed from the oppression of the landlord class.

Zhu Yijun, as the emperor, naturally can't say that Zhang Juzheng thinks wrong.

And he can't ask Zhang Juzheng, as a member of the scholars, to be really conscious enough to seek happiness for the common people in the world.

But Zhu Yijun is not only the emperor, but also the representative of the big landowners of this era, and the acres of land occupied by his imperial village itself proves this; But he was also a man from later generations who had been educated for more than a decade.

He knows more theoretical knowledge of social sciences than Zhang Juzheng, knows that people can be treated as cattle and horses if they are not real, and in addition, he cannot really expect a period of reform to completely end entropy increase.

Therefore, Zhu Yijun only asked Zhang Juzheng at this time: "Mr. thinks that if you don't obey the people's desire to seek wealth and nobility, the people's desire for wealth and nobility will disappear and will not exist?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, nature exists."

"But Your Majesty should take advantage of the thoughts of the people of the world to practice the system of pursuing wealth and nobility, and collect the hearts of the people of the world, that is, the current imperial examination, and encourage the people to read the books of the saints and follow the path of career."

In addition, through the imperial examination, the scholars among the people only knew orthodox learning, and thus only knew loyalty, righteousness, and shame. Rather, they obey the hearts of the people, seek their well-being, and even rob the rich to help the poor. ”

Zhang Juzheng replied.

Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "What Mr. said is true." ”

"But Rao is like this, because the number of teeth is increasing, it will still make more and more rich people, and there will be more pampered people, but the land of Kyushu is limited!"

"Mr. thinks that if this goes on for a long time, the monarch only knows how to control the people, and does not want to increase the income of the people and increase the production of the society, will there be no more homeless people in the Ming Dynasty, and there will be no more homeless people to become bandits, or even to sit in the court?"

Zhang Juzheng raised his eyes and glanced at Zhu Yijun in surprise.

Shen Li also glanced at Zhu Yijun.

Zhang Juzheng then said calmly: "Your Majesty is very worried, but it's just that one generation can only do one thing. Your Majesty should hand over the future problems to your children and grandchildren, and there is no need to spend state funds for the benefit of the people for the time being, after all, the imperial court should prepare enough state funds for emergencies. What's more, there are major events such as King Lu going out of the cabinet and crossing the sea to ask for widows, all of which cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and it is necessary to be thrifty. ”

"Thrifty doesn't have to be frugal on this!"

"A Aoshan fireworks and lantern festival only costs tens of thousands of silver? As far as I know, a famous prostitute was rewarded by the powerful and wealthy in one night, and it was more than hundreds of thousands of taels. ”

"The cost of a scholar doctor to raise a famous concubine costs tens of thousands of taels of silver a year, especially for those who raise a thousand golden concubines."

"We should not only worship thrift and prohibit luxury, but also make these powerful and wealthy gentry prohibit luxury and worship frugality."

"First of all, it is forbidden to buy and sell women, it is forbidden to open a green house hook bar, and even the tour of antiques in restaurants is also prohibited!"

"And let the extravagance be heavily taxed."

"In this way, it can be regarded as truly suppressing luxury and advocating frugality."

Zhu Yijun asked Zhang Juzheng as he spoke: "What does Mr. think?" ”

Zhang Juzheng couldn't help but be stunned, and was speechless for a while: "Minister." ”

(End of chapter)