"It's not my intention to be a marquis, but I hope the sea will be peaceful."

This poem is from "The Depths of Tao Xuan", which was written by Qi Jiguang when he was the commander of Dengzhou Wei.

Before you know it, it's been nearly fifty years.

Now, the maritime frontier of the Ming Dynasty has calmed down a lot, but Qi Jiguang himself still made the marquis, not only the marquis, but now he has also become the prince of the country, and he is in charge of the military aircraft.

Qi Jiguang was naturally very satisfied with this.

Especially now that the emperor blames some of the flattering ministers and powerful ministers he did in the past on the old rites, it can be regarded as the only thing he cares about by announcing to the world.

And now, he is only thinking about how to repay the grace of God and do something for the implementation of the new rites before returning to the land.

Let's be honest.

Qi Jiguang himself has had enough, the kind of environment in the old rite era where people are not ghosts and ghosts.

In that era, it was clear that everyone was talking about benevolence, righteousness and morality, but what they did was to ask men to steal and prostitute women.

Rao is he Qi Jiguang really wants to serve the national security, he is a person with a habit of moral cleanliness, but he also has to succumb to the general environment, while he has strict requirements for the official schools under his command, not to deduct military salaries, not to plunder the people, but on the other hand, he is deducting military salaries to give gifts to his superiors and help the powerful smuggle.

The root of all this comes from the supreme power holder under the old rites, that is, the emperor himself, who only knows that he is extremely poor and extravagant through internal profits, so that the entire Ming Dynasty is up and down, the royal family is greedy, hundreds of officials are greedy, and the people are all scraped off the world's wealth and make the people suffer more and more.

After the Wanli Emperor implemented the new ceremony, because he took the lead in taking external and internal benefits, even if the royal family got big profits, the hundred officials only got small profits, and the upper and lower levels could take a lot less people's wealth.

As a result, the development of the Ming Dynasty to the present, the royal family because of the big benefits from the outside world, but also take the lead in making big profits, even if most of the big profits flow into the pockets of the powerful and bureaucrats, but there are also a small part of the benefits like a trickle of sweet springs into the pockets of the people.

Let alone.

The Chinese people have always been industrious, as long as they do not loot or toss, even if the benefits given by the royal family do not benefit them, they will take the initiative to actively increase their wealth.

Therefore, after the implementation of the new ceremony, because the royal family no longer looted the people's wealth in the first place, the bureaucracy, the lower levels did not have to loot the people's money in order to please the superiors, and the superiors also cared more about their own moral integrity, and more and more officials took the initiative to refuse the gifts of the subordinates, and the people became more secure, and the officials could be more honest.

However, whether it is the government or the people, their respective interests are increasing, and they are increasing more than in the old rite era, mainly because of the increase in legitimate income, and the gray income that is not won by ingenuity in the old rite era.

Qi Jiguang is also very supportive of Xinli because of this.

After all, the new gift not only allowed him to be more morally honest and upright, but also allowed him to obtain more legal assets to support the poor among his relatives and friends, and even blatantly engage in high consumption, without hiding the silver and only using it to bribe and run away from relationships, and no longer have to worry about the official Jinyi Wei staring at his property, after all, his property is basically legal, and even because of this, most of it is openly known to the relevant financial yamen of the imperial court.

Therefore, Qi Jiguang became a staunch believer in Xinli, and he was determined to do his best to do something in the twilight of his life.

Wang reproached him for being hypocritical, but he was not angry, but took out a drunken golden hairpin full of precious stones from a treasure box at the bedside, and said to Wang:

"I always remember that today is the day you entered my Qi's house, so I have prepared a gift for you a long time ago, a hairpin worth a thousand gold, I think you can wear it as a lady, and if others don't deserve it, I will buy it."

Wang was stunned.

"Do you even remember?"

Wang took the golden hairpin and asked.

Qi Jiguang said with a smile: "I will remember it for the rest of my life!" ”

Wang pursed his lips and heated up, and after a while, he suddenly raised his eyebrows again, and habitually blamed Qi Jiguang:

"How can you waste silver dollars so much! You Qi Yuanjing thinks that there are too many silver dollars, right, if you don't buy a thousand gold Ji, you will buy a thousand gold hairpins instead! ”

"The silver dollar I earned innocently, the innocent hairpin I bought, I gave it to you, you woman, why don't you appreciate it?!"

Qi Jiguang saw that the Wang family still blamed him, so he sat up from the collapse and staggered outside: "I'm too lazy to pay attention to you!" ”

Seeing that he was able to get out of bed, Wang was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly chased after him, while inserting the golden hairpin into Hao's hair, he supported him: "Don't let people worry, you have to get up and say something!" ”

Qi Jiguang didn't pay attention to Wang, like an angry child, he only turned his face to the other side, and shook Wang's hand away.

At this time, the three sons of Qi Changguo, Qi Baoguo, Qi Xingguo, and Qi Jiguang, who were also serving here, saw Qi Jiguang and the Wang family coming out, so they hurriedly got up and stood with their hands on their faces.

Qi Xingguo smiled first and asked, "Father, this is good, do you want to send the medical officer to confirm the pulse?" ”

"It was a great deal, but someone was so angry that my chest tightened again, and I don't know if it was good or not, anyway, if someone is no longer in front of me, it will be better."

Qi Jiguang said in a strange way at this time.

The three sons of Qi Changguo, Qi Baoguo, and Qi Xingguo were all stunned, and they didn't understand who Qi Jiguang was talking about for a while.

Wang threw Qi Jiguang to Qi Changguo to support, and he took a big step to lift his skirt and cross the threshold, with a cold face, and walked out:

"Okay, I'll go!"

"Who rarely looks at you every day!"

Qi Jiguang saw that the Wang family was really angry, and he couldn't bear it, so he hurriedly shouted: "Madam, slow down, I'm not targeting you!" ”

But Wang had already gone away by this time.

Qi Changguo, Qi Baoguo, and Qi Xingguo buried their heads lower, all worried that Qi Jiguang was targeting them.

"Why don't you speak?"

Qi Jiguang saw that the air suddenly became quiet, so he asked his third son.

Then, Qi Jiguang also took the initiative to ask Qi Changguo: "How are you and Zhao Shizhen doing with the steam engine?" ”

When Qi Changguo saw Qi Jiguang asking him, he couldn't help but be glad that his father was not targeting him, so he replied: "I'm making a new cylinder." ”

"I don't know, but if you really do a good job, I think you can use less manpower, so that there may be more people who support Xinli."

Qi Jiguang said.

"That's what my father said!"

Then, Qi Jiguang asked Qi Baoguo again: "Hu Shouren, are they here?" ”

"As my father expected, Hu Shouren, Wu Weizhong, Chen Wenliang, Wang Rulong, and Luo Shangzhi all came to visit you when they learned that you were sick!"

Qi Baoguo also breathed a sigh of relief and followed back.

Qi Jiguang said: "Go and call them!" ”

"Yes!"

Then, Qi Jiguang asked Qi Xingguo again: "How is Your Highness doing lately?" ”

Qi Xingguo arched his hand and replied: "It's okay, let my son take a message and let my father take care of your body." ”

"Let Your Highness worry, you go back and tell her that I'm much better."

Qi Jiguang said.

"Yes!"

Not long after, Hu Shouren, Wu Weizhong, Chen Wenliang, Wang Rulong, Luo Shangzhi and other Qi Jiguang's old departments came to Qi Jiguang.

Qi Jiguang looked at these people and said with a smile: "Many of you are now a general, and some of you have even transferred to civilian positions to become officials of the Sixth Ministry, but you still remember to come to see me, which means that you are a person of great affection." ”

"We naturally dare not forget the grace of the former prime minister."

At this time, Hu Shouren said first.

Qi Jiguang said: "You came to see me, but you were also worried that if I really disappeared, the cardinal minister became the Marquis of Ning Yuan, and the northern soldiers would overpower the southern soldiers, right?" ”

Hu Shouren and Wu Weizhong glanced at each other.

Hu Shouren said again: "As expected by the cardinal minister, I have already heard that behind the appearance of the demon book, there are people from the Northern Soldier Ning Yuanhou who are making trouble, and they don't want the cardinal minister to be in this position for too long!" In recent years, the imperial court has always used southern soldiers, which has made them have a lot less military merits, and they feel that it is because the prime minister deliberately takes care of our southern soldiers. ”

"Don't mention the matter of chasing after the wind and shadows, Ning Yuanhou is not the kind of despicable villain, in order to bring down my Qi Jiguang, he did such a dirty act."

Qi Jiguang waved his hand and said.

"Yes!"

Qi Jiguang then said: "Your Majesty's edict, have you all seen it?" ”

Hu Shouren replied: "I saw it." ”

Wu Weizhong also said: "The Son of Heaven is holy and benevolent, and this move undoubtedly makes those villains who want to restore the old rites have no way out!" ”

Qi Jiguang nodded: "It's good to see it!" ”

"It is because of His Majesty's benevolence."

"Therefore, you must be absolutely loyal to Your Majesty, and do not do anything that disappoints Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty can protect me like this today, and you will be able to protect you like this in the future, so if there is a day when I leave, don't worry, always remember that Your Majesty is holy!"

"Of course, now that I have not left, you must also be loyal to Your Majesty, and don't really think that I am more important than Your Majesty; Without me, your sky would not have collapsed, but without Your Majesty, your sky may have really collapsed. ”

Qi Jiguang continued.

Hu Shouren and the others bowed: "We understand!" ”

Zhu Yijun's edict is indeed a great incentive for New Party officials.

Because this edict really lifted the knot in the hearts of many New Party officials, and blamed the old rites for the past mistakes.

But this edict also made the scholars who secretly restored the old ritual system very angry.

"How can you blame the old rites for everything!"

"Wu Miao pretended to be a general and disordered the official system, and the temple cultivator asked, Mu Miao is addicted to wine, is it also strange for the old ceremony?"

"Strict division is suitable for the country, Xu Huating's indulgence in accumulating wealth, is it also the fault of the old rites?"

"But how could the old rites ever advocate that the monarch and the minister can do this?"

At this time, Bai Xuan was full of anger and complained to Cai Guozhen, dissatisfied with Zhu Yijun's behavior of directly blaming the old mistakes of the New Party and even the emperors of the Ming Dynasty on the old rites.

Because it is equivalent to blatantly telling the world that it was not the people at that time who were bad, but the etiquette at that time was bad, and the old etiquette established on the basis of Cheng Zhu Lixue, which had flourished since the Southern Song Dynasty, was out of date.

Therefore, any wrong people and things ten years ago in Wanli are blamed on the wrong etiquette.

This makes the white selection very broken.

Cai Guozhen couldn't stand it either, and said through gritted teeth: "This is digging the roots of the old rites!" But anyone who doesn't want to be held accountable by the imperial court for the powerful bureaucrats who have been in the past will pinch their noses and admit that the old rites are wrong, not that others are wrong! ”

"So what do we do?"

Bai Xuan asked.

Cai Guozhen got up and sighed: "I can't think of any countermeasures for the time being!" ”

"When today's son is taught by Zhang Taiyue, he is too smart, he will always use people's hearts to conspire, and he can always have new high theories on some people and things, and now it is even more unprecedented to say that people are wrong because of the wrong etiquette and ideas implemented by the times!"

"Since ancient times, once the dynasty has changed and the reasons are analyzed, it must be blamed on the immorality of the monarch and the court; It's good now, as soon as this edict comes out, doesn't it mean that if there will be a dynasty in the future, it will not be caused by the immorality of the monarch and the court, but the wrong way itself? ”

"This is opening up the people's wisdom!"

"The consequences will be terrible!"

"If once people have such wisdom, and when the world is bad, they will not just blame one or two faint kings and traitors, but will directly blame the saints and the etiquette, this person is bad is the conclusion that the etiquette is problematic, and it is really not inferior to Wang Anshi's three deficiencies!"

"If you let it preach, I don't know how many sages will be lifted up and then abandoned!"

Bai Xuan said with a serious face.

Cai Guozhen said: "But you and I are helpless about it!" The only thing to do now is to burn the book quickly! ”

"Burn books?"

"What books to burn?"

Bai Xuan asked Cai Guozhen busily.

Cai Guozhen said: "Burning books and articles involving the memory and denigration of the meritorious people of the country and the nation, especially the engravings, must be burned!" can't let people find out, otherwise it is likely to destroy the family and exterminate the clan, after all, the edict has been issued, once captured, it will not be punished without teaching, once the people of the world are enlightened, they will only support the court to do this, and even think that the court is not ruthless enough, and will only call for anyone suspected of such a case, and the punishment of killing more than one person should be killed! So you have to burn it quickly! ”

"But it's a shame to burn it!"

"Especially those engravings, it's not easy to make."

Bai Xuan was not very willing, so after thinking about it, he took the initiative to propose:

"Is it possible to keep some of the engravings that record the bad deeds of the New Party, transport them to Jiangnan and hide them, and then take them out and print them when they have the opportunity in the future?"

"After all, there are many people in Jiangnan and many books, even if Jinyiwei wants to check carefully, even if he sends 100,000 people to investigate, scattered in various towns in Jiangnan, it may not be as easy to find out as in the capital."

"Whatever you want!"

"I can burn it anyway, so that Jinyi Wei can't find it!"

Cai Guozhen first threw a book with Shen Shixing's bad deeds written on his bedside into the brazier, and then threw a book that smeared Hai Rui into the brazier, and finally simply picked it up and threw it into the brazier, and laughed:

"Let him check the brocade clothes! Never try to find out who wants to restore the old rites, who is hiding their old party identity in the DPRK, doing the things of the new party, and just waiting for the future to change and restore the old rites! ”

For a while, the fire in the brazier burned very strongly, reflecting the faces of Cai Guozhen and Bai Xuan.

"It's okay for the public to do this, but I decided to choose a batch of engravings and transport them back to Jiangnan to hide, so that when the time comes, there will be no books to check the bad deeds of the new party when the public reverts to the old rites and recompiles the history of the country in order to govern in the future!"

Bai Xuan said at this time, and then looked at Cai Guozhen intently.

Cai Guozhen didn't say much, but only took a sedan chair and went out of the house with Bai Xuan, and decided to go to the major bookstores to find out if he could find books that basically involved the propaganda of the bad deeds of those who have made great contributions to the country and the nation, and dedicated them to the imperial court, so as to show that he was a staunch new party official on the surface.

When Cai Guozhen left the mansion, Hu Shouren, who had become the governor of Beizhi, also left the official compound after visiting Qi Jiguang.

(End of chapter)