Not long after Jiang Xinghuo left, Chen Ying entered the Fengtian Hall again.

"Can the three law divisions be coordinated?"

"It's coordinated." Chen Ying said, "In recent days, the inspector of the Imperial Court of the Metropolitan Procuratorate has received a complaint, which is a case of corruption and perversion of the law by a businessman against Wang Shijie, the governor of Yangzhou Prefecture. ”

Zhu Di frowned and said, "Something is wrong? ”

Chen Ying nodded and said: "Wang Shijie is the former governor of Changzhou Prefecture, after the former Changzhou Governor Ding Meixia was executed, he acted for the position of prefect, and then coincided with the vacancy of the Governor of Yangzhou Prefecture, and was promoted to the Governor of Yangzhou Prefecture for flood control and disaster relief. This person is good at government affairs, quite incorruptible, and cautious, this time he was sued for embezzlement, and the minister really couldn't figure out why. ”

The people sued the official, or the merchant informed the government, and it was the Yangzhou salt merchant who told the Yangzhou prefect who was biased towards the law change faction when the imperial court was planning to open the Chinese law, do you say it was a coincidence?

In fact, in the Ming Dynasty, it was very difficult for ordinary people to file a lawsuit against officials, and theoretically there were only three ways.

The first is stipulated in the "Great Edict", which can be twisted and sent officials into Beijing, but this is basically impossible to achieve now, because the Hongwu Dynasty practiced for a while, and it turned out that there are still many bad people in the world who use the rules, not only are there bold and greedy people in the market who have begun to use this rule to blackmail officials, but there are also other corrupt officials who spend money to buy the people, so that these people who are bought will not be willing to go with them to the good officials and clean officials to Beijing, so as to get rid of competitors.

The second is to submit a complaint to the supervision of the imperial history, after all, the Metropolitan Procuratorate is used to supervise the central and local civil officials, so that they do not dare to be corrupt and pervert the law, and now the fourteen supervision of the imperial history is even bigger than the storage of river defense, as small as trivial, everything is inspected, everything is managed, and one of the duties of the supervision of the imperial history is to collect the people's papers, according to Zhu Yuanzhang's regulations, after receiving the complaints, the supervision of the imperial history must hand over the case to the administrative agency at the next higher level of the defendant official or the supervision agency at the same level.

The reason why we need this thing is because there is a principle in the "Da Ming Law", that is, the principle of "false accusation and reverse sitting", that is, A sues B for a certain crime, if it is finally proved that A is falsely accused, then A will have to bear this crime It can only be said that Lao Zhu's simple sense of justice is still very good, and it is precisely because of this principle that no matter who you want to sue, you must have a pleading, the kind that is fingerprinted, and anonymous letters are invalid, and the law of the Ming Dynasty acquiesces that anonymous letters cannot be used as evidence.

The third is to beat the drum to sound grievances, that is, the well-known Dengwen drum, but this thing was not the first to be created by Zhu Yuanzhang, but appeared as early as after the Three Kingdoms, and later the Tang and Song dynasties, it can only be said that the popularity in the Ming Dynasty is higher than before, Lao Zhu himself has been wronged by corrupt officials and corrupt officials, so when the emperor is worried that the officials and officials will protect each other, the people will be wronged and have nowhere to redress their grievances, and in the early years, a huge Dengwen drum was placed outside the noon gate. Of course, this thing is not for you to knock when you have nothing to do, only if you don't care about the yamen at all levels, and there is really nowhere to redress grievances, otherwise it will be a skip appeal, and even if it is something, you have to get fifty lashes.

In addition, such as marital conflicts, land disputes, fights and other things, the dungrum guard of the drum is ignorant, only if the conditions are met, you knock the drum, the drum guard will take the paper and hand it directly to the emperor, and once this step is started, no one can stop it for any reason.

"All civil lawsuits are from the bottom up, or the government, state, county, and provincial officials and judges do not justify and have grievances and serious matters that cannot be reached by themselves, Xu beats the drum, supervises the imperial history and then induces, and those who dare to obstruct the accusation will die!"

It can only be said that Lao Zhu is indeed mighty and domineering.

Zhu Di took the paper handed over by Chen Ying and looked at it.

"Oh?" Zhu Di showed a puzzled look, "You can tell me." ”

Chen Ying said: "The minister's preliminary judgment is that someone deliberately framed Wang Shijie. ”

"Is there a basis?"

Chen Ying said: "When I was in Changzhou Mansion, the eunuch field of Changzhou Mansion was rotten, only a few people such as Wang Shijie and Zhang Yulin were able to clean themselves, and Wang Shijie was just promoted to the prefect of Yangzhou Mansion this year for just a few months, and the local Jinyiwei reported that he was magnanimous and benevolent, treated his subordinates kindly but obeyed the law, and did not have any greed for money was discovered by Jinyiwei, and the minister suspected that it was a local official who hated him and wanted to take this opportunity to bring him down."

Zhu Di groaned: "You continue. ”

Chen Ying said: "What the minister means is that this matter will be kept secret for the time being, and wait and see what happens." ”

Zhu Di stared at Chen Ying's eyes and asked, "Then who do you think planned this?" Could it be that it is not only a local thing in Yangzhou Prefecture? ”

Chen Ying was silent for a long time and said, "This. Weichen didn't dare to say anything, after all, even if the investigating minister could only investigate by edict, and he had no right to speculate about the princes of the court. ”

Zhu Di read a name.

Chen Ying shook his head and said: "He should disdain to do such a despicable thing, and such a big thing, if it is exposed, I am afraid it will hurt the foundation of his foothold in the temple, and more importantly, this matter involves the reform of the salt law of the national teacher." ”

"Hmm." Zhu Di nodded, "You make a lot of sense. ”

Seeing that the emperor had no other instructions, Chen Ying bowed and said, "That Weichen has retired." ”

Zhu Di suddenly stopped him and said, "You wait first." ”

Chen Ying paused, turned her head and looked at Zhu Di's boots respectfully.

Zhu Di said with a smile: "The Metropolitan Procuratorate can be on its own in the future." ”

"Ugh!" Chen Ying was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly knelt on the ground, kowtowed, and said, "The minister is panicking, the minister is just worrying about His Majesty, and it is not worth mentioning." ”

Zhu Di waved his hand and said, "Okay, you go down." ”

Chen Ying kowtowed and said, "The minister obeys the order." ”

Zhu Di continued to pick up the brush to correct the music, and soon after that, he raised his head and looked out the window, it was dark.

——————

As night fell, there was silence inside and outside the mansion.

In the Ming Dynasty, when the prince was a minor, he had to live in the palace; When he became an adult, except for the crown prince, he had to go to the fief to become a vassal, and the fief was generally built in advance.

In the history of Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, after the Ming Dynasty moved the capital to Beijing, if there were special circumstances, that is, if there were special circumstances, that is, adults could not live in the palace but the fiefdom palace was not done, then they lived in the Ten Princes' Mansion, well, it doesn't matter where the Ten Princes' Mansion is, there is a well in it that is very sweet, and it was later called "Wangfujing".

There are also exceptions among the exceptions, such as those who are particularly favored by the emperor, and who do not plan to be released when they are adults, such as Ming Jiangzong likes his only younger brother Zhu Youzhen very much, and simply repaired a mansion in the British public family as the palace of the king of letters, which belongs to the only one in the capital.

But now the capital has not been moved, and there is no such thing as the Ten Princes' Mansion, so where to live when the prince is an adult and has not established a prince or a vassal has become a real problem in the early years of Yongle.

It is not appropriate to live in the imperial palace, and the east palace is not qualified to live, so it can only be rewarded by the emperor, and several mansions close to the palace are given to the three princes.

In the garden in the mansion, the chubby Zhu Gaochi was comfortably leaning on the recliner, looking at the remnant sun gradually dissipating in the sky, and his mood was a little happy Since he went south, he really hasn't enjoyed such a leisurely time.

"Your Highness." The eunuch next to him whispered, "Dinner is ready." ”

In this era, only wealthy merchants, civil officials, and nobles usually had the habit of eating dinner, and most of the peasants in the fields still had a two-meal system, and the word "meal" was only used by the royal family.

Zhu Gaochi came back to his senses and said, "I'm not hungry yet, send the food to Zhanji and them to eat, and let them not wait for me." ”

The eunuch received the order and left in a hurry.

Zhu Zhanji naturally refused to eat, and after he got the news, he stood up and walked along the promenade to the garden, and his footsteps were particularly clear in the quiet air. Zhu Zhanji was a child after all, although there were eunuchs around, but the sky was getting dark, as if something was hidden in the dark, he involuntarily quickened his pace, and even trotted up, and came to the garden gate after a while.

He stepped through the door and went in, only to see his father lying in a rocking chair, gently tapping his fingers and humming a tune, which was a rare state.

Zhu Zhanji greeted: "Dad." ”

Zhu Gaochi nodded and said, "I heard that you fought with the little girl of the Wei Guogong family in the Great Main Hall today?" ”

Zhu Zhanji said: "What's not in the way is that she sneaked up on me and scratched me." ”

Zhu Gaochi was embarrassed to expose him, and it was not a big deal for children to make trouble, and he couldn't go on the line.

However, he is too busy, and he usually has no time to take care of Zhu Zhanji during the day.

Zhu Gaochi's eyes fell on the neatly folded letter on the table next to the recliner, reached out to take it, unfolded it, and sighed, he put down the letter and sighed again.

Zhu Zhanji asked tentatively, "Father? ”

Zhu Zhanji's significance to Zhu Gaochi is too special, not only his own son, but also an important guarantee for ascending to the throne of the prince and even the throne, after all, he is Zhu Di's favorite grandson. Well, cold knowledge, Zhu Zhanji is not the eldest grandson, because Zhu Gaochu is a young kid, so he gave birth to a son earlier than the eldest brother, the eldest son Zhu Zhanji is one year older than Zhu Zhanji, but unfortunately he is a premature baby, he is not very smart since he was a child, and his body is weak, not only is he not liked by Zhu Di, but Zhu Gaoxu himself is not very fond of it, and now he is still in Beijing.

Zhu Gaochi didn't hide a lot of things from him, and directly handed him the letter in his hand.

There was an incense burner with insect repellent spices next to it, and there were also lanterns, and Zhu Zhanji looked at it by the light of the lanterns.

The records are all about what happened in Nanjing and even in the whole of Nanzhili, there are cases, rumors, and some news that is so trivial that it is difficult to classify.

However, without exception, they all point to the fact that with the spread of new ideas, some traditional ideas and concepts are undergoing drastic changes in the market and within the rural clans, such as the female workers in the handicraft workshop area, when visiting relatives, will tell their fellow villagers or neighbors about what they have seen and heard when they 'enter the field', and the tenant farmers who have escaped the shackles of the land through work-for-relief, after the construction of water conservancy and paving the roads, some of them are reluctant to go home, and they have also found work opportunities in other factories. Collective labor, advanced spinning wheels, and new rules are all shaking people in the small-scale peasant economy of male farmers and female weavers.

In the circle of intellectuals, the new version of psychology, empirical science, and all kinds of ideas are also spreading rapidly like an unstoppable storm, attracting more people to join, thus shaking the traditional Cheng Zhu Lixue established a set of moral and ethical system of "monarchs, ministers, ministers, fathers, sons" of "monarchs, ministers, fathers, sons".

Zhu Gaochi muttered: "The so-called 'the wind rises at the end of Qingping, and the waves become between the waves', although it is not a big deal, but it is also shocking, I am worried that such a thing will definitely happen more than once in the future."

Zhu Zhanji couldn't help but be stunned.

Zhu Gaochi raised his head and said: "The situation in our Daming has just stabilized, and judging from the past few years, God has admired his face, and it can be regarded as a smooth wind." But recently, there has been a constant war, the battle in the court is fierce, and the people are not worried. If that's the case, I'm just afraid that the world of our Zhu family, in a hundred or two hundred years, I don't know if it will be buried by today's actions. ”

"Father, why is this so?" Zhu Zhanji was surprised.

Zhu Gaochi smiled and said softly: "Zhanji, you still don't understand. How can there be a perfect system in the world? There are drawbacks in every road, and these drawbacks are not formed overnight, but slowly accumulate, coupled with natural disasters, people's will, and other reasons that lead to the final consequences. ”

Zhu Gaochi seemed to fall into some kind of deep worry, and his tone was quite solemn, Zhu Zhanji was silent for a moment, and finally mustered up the courage to advise: "Father, my son feels that the recent changes in Nanjing and even Nanzhili, at best, have developed into the state of prosperous cities and rich citizens in the Song Dynasty. Didn't the Song Dynasty rule well? ”

Zhu Gaochi shook his head, Jiang Xinghuo's words always lingered in his mind.

"The manufacturing force determines the manufacturing relationship, the material foundation determines the top-level structure, and now the manufacturing force has changed, a large number of manual workshops have been established, the manufacturing relationship has also changed, and there are workers, all of this is developing in an unpredictable direction, where is the scene of the Song Dynasty? If in the long run, the handicraft workshop owners, sea merchants, and citizens have become more powerful in the prosperous city of the whole world, where can the prosperity of Kaifeng in the Northern Song Dynasty be comparable? At that time, the material foundation has changed, can we, the Zhu family, still control the world so easily? ”

Zhu Zhanji didn't dare to speak, he knew his father's knot.

Zhu Gaochi said: "For the current changes in the Ming Dynasty, in fact, I have always been very pleased, but I always feel that taking this road, for our Zhu family, the cost may be greater than imagined, your imperial grandfather can't see this, he thinks about the martial arts and the emperor of the ages, but even if he becomes the emperor of the ages, he doesn't care about the people behind him?" ”

Of course, Zhu Zhanji knew that his father embarked on the road of changing the law, not because he agreed from the bottom of his heart, his father was an extremely rational person and would not blindly follow anything, just because the emperor's grandfather wanted to take this road, and his father had to follow.

"Mr. Jiang told a story in the main hall that there was an overseas king who said, 'After I die, who cares about the flood'."

Zhu Gaochi rubbed his forehead in distress and sighed: "After a few years to the appointed time, your second uncle and third uncle will definitely not be satisfied with the current state, they will keep clamoring, and in the end they may force your imperial grandfather, if it is just like this, I am still confident that we will maintain our Daming, but if you and my father and son have no chance with the throne, let your second uncle become the emperor. He is a reckless man, and has always listened to the words of the national teacher, and now Cao Guogong has not launched a landing in Annam, but once the landing is won, the nobles see that the war can not only make money, but also have a lot of military merits to be fished, then the maritime trade to drive the inland handicraft workshop interest model will be formed, once the interest group is formed, in another one or two hundred years, I am afraid that by the time I envisioned, the foundation of our Ming Dynasty will no longer exist. ”

I have to say that Zhu Gaochi, who is smart and capable, really combined the two to form a far-sighted judgment ability.

In fact, when the chain of overseas exploration-trade-war-colonization is formed, it will inevitably drive the domestic manufacturing industry of the Ming Dynasty, and the interest rate difference of the manufacturing industry will be fed back to the workers and even the whole society, further promoting domestic commerce.

When the factory owners, merchants, burghers, and workers have completely become the dominant force in society, the feudal ruling order based on the agricultural economy will inevitably crumble under the impact of the tide of the times, and no one can stop it.

And Zhu Gaochi saw this, so he was so worried, not that the traditional Cheng Zhu science education he received made him unable to accept it.

In other words, although Zhu Gaochi believes in science, he is also a pragmatist.

He glanced at Zhu Zhanji, and saw that he was still stunned, so he smiled and said: "Zhanji, you are still young, it is normal to think about many things clearly, and you will understand it in the future." ”

"Hmm." Zhu Zhanji replied sneeringly.

"Don't worry, I know it in my heart, you just have to do things according to your nature." Zhu Gaochi said with a smile, "Dad still hopes that you will study hard and make great achievements in the future." ”

When he said this, he suddenly changed the topic and said, "However, you also have to pay more attention to the changes in the court and the people." ”

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said, "The child still has some doubts about what his father said tonight, doesn't the imperial grandfather know the hidden dangers in this?" ”

Zhu Gaochi said: "What do you know? I don't know? Those officials, generals, and rich gentry, which one will change because they don't know? The finances of the imperial court are still stretched, and the situation around the Ming Dynasty is becoming more and more complicated, and I am afraid that there will be more and more places to use money in the future. In the final analysis, it is still a matter of money, the national teacher can manage money and make money, of course your imperial grandfather has to use the method of the national teacher. ”

Zhu Gaochi smiled bitterly: "Your father and I will only use that method of opening up sources and reducing expenditure, and resting with the people, your imperial grandfather doesn't like it." ”

He paused, and then said, "Since there are people in this world who can govern the world well, then how can your imperial grandfather not support it?" At the beginning, your imperial grandfather thought that these officials and rich people in the south were just moths, but now the money and grain of the imperial court are obtained from the south. No one thinks it makes much sense to conquer Annan now, but in your father's opinion, it is indeed an out-and-out turning point for our Daming, if this battle is won, there will be more and more maritime merchants in the south, the more goods will be sold, the more profitable, and the more and more silver in the Daming treasury, so my worries are actually useless now, and they are just a whining night talk between you and my father and son. ”

Zhu Zhanji understood in a trance, and hurriedly said: "Father is very right. ”

"The child thinks that this is certainly for the good of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor's grandfather is heroic and majestic, and the martial arts will definitely be able to achieve the famous monarch and the holy monarch through the ages, but now the various policies of the imperial court are to raise funds The imperial court has to feed many troops every day, in addition to many expenses, but our Ming Dynasty cannot damage the root because of a momentary greedy desire."

After hearing this, Zhu Gaochi's face gradually softened, revealing a smile. He patted Zhu Zhanji's shoulder approvingly, nodded with a smile and said:

"You must know that you must not be in a hurry to do things, otherwise it will just be unfounded, it's not too early, go back and rest."

Zhu Zhanji didn't say anything more, and directly retired and left the garden.

Back in his room, he stood for a long time on the stone steps under the eaves, pondering his father's words.

My father's worries were not unreasonable, once the handicraft workshop and the interest group of military meritorious nobles were completely formed, then even if my father became the crown prince, in this case, this new interest group would definitely not be willing to let my father, who was based on civil officials and scholars, become the new monarch in order to protect its own interests.

But the second uncle is precisely the representative of these military meritorious nobles.

On the contrary, with the formation of new economic interest groups among the military meritorious nobles, it will inevitably infringe on the interests of the traditional scholars and doctors who regard land as their main wealth, and a large number of tenant farmers will leave the land, and a large number of new rich people will surpass the scholars and landlords in the accumulation of wealth.

In other words, the contradiction between his father and his second uncle has been out of the category of contradiction in the dispute between personal princes, has nothing to do with family affection, and has come to the huge and irreconcilable contradiction between the two opposing classes.

And no matter who becomes the emperor, this contradiction must be resolved in order to maintain stability in the imperial court.

So can Zhu Gaochi become a representative of the new interest group? Obviously impossible, not to mention that he is basically a civil official doctor, even if he is willing to destroy the Great Wall and rebuild a set of teams, how can he compete for Zhu Gaoxu, who is naturally more iron than the nobles of Jing Nan?

Therefore, Zhu Gaochi had no choice.

This thought flashed through his mind, and Zhu Zhanji couldn't help but shake his head bitterly.

Jiang Xinghuo is his teacher, and he admires the person the most, Jiang Xinghuo has a strong personal charm, he dares to take risks, dares to challenge all authority, and at the same time has knowledge like a vast ocean, his personality is sometimes similar to Wang Anshi, who is known as the "Bad Minister", he has identified a path, and he is really going all out and indomitable Zhu Zhanji even thinks that if there is a saint in this world, it must be Jiang Xinghuo.

But all this, when it really involves the vital interests of his own family, and even the temptation of the dragon chair, which can even be said to be the biggest interest in the world, has become a little strange.

Distraught, he walked towards the house, thinking about things all the way, and the room was dimly lit and there was a peaceful and peaceful atmosphere.

——————

The dew is white from tonight, and the moon is the hometown of Ming.

Jiang Xinghuo finished washing up at this time, and also climbed into bed and fell asleep, but he usually slept well, but he tossed and turned tonight, and he couldn't sleep, so he felt that his shoulders seemed to be getting heavier and heavier, as if he was carrying a thousand pounds of burden, pressing every bone.

"It's time to sleep, and tomorrow I have to participate in Li Zhigang's triage of the Three Law Divisions."

He closed his eyes and tried to calm his heart, but somehow, his thoughts were still mixed, and the pictures in the Fengtian Temple that were in his mind lingered.

Jiang Xinghuo turned over, pillowed his arm and looked out the window, his head was a mess, all of which were trivial things about Chen Sesame and rotten grain.

Jiang Xinghuo got up, wandered around the room for a while, and then went out.

The moon was bright and the stars were sparse at night, and he stood alone on the steps looking up at the dark sky, and suddenly felt a little dazed - today was the third year of his crossing.

It stands to reason that there should be some sense of belonging to this world.

But in his heart, there is always an indescribable loss.

Since he was released from prison, the government has been busy with all kinds of things, and when he is really busy, he has not even had a chance to drink a meal or a pot of wine, but now he has no interest in eating supper, and just wants to find a place to blow the cold wind.

He walked out of the courtyard and walked aimlessly, a few attendant warriors on night duty silently following behind him for some distance, protecting his safety.

The imperial city in the night not far away, under the hazy starlight, looks particularly magnificent and magnificent, like a towering giant beast, quietly dormant, its size is huge, even the most ordinary palace wall, are as high as several zhang, the whole imperial city is wide and majestic from afar, and it is withdrawn, like a giant gate of ancient vicissitudes, standing between heaven and earth.

The night was deeper, and only the sound of the husband beating the watch came from the surroundings, Jiang Xinghuo walked slowly in the middle of the road alone, but he didn't meet a single figure, he felt more and more lost in his heart, and simply walked to a towering ancient tree to rest.

The branches and leaves of this ancient tree were dense, blocking the light of the moon and stars, Jiang Xinghuo leaned his head on the trunk of the tree, and he thought of the scene when he was just imprisoned, leaning on the trunk and pointing out the country with Zhu Gaoxu, although he was only a prisoner at that time, but his heart was full of hope for his upcoming success and full of longing for his future.

Now, he is a very good minister, but he does not have any joy, but a heavy responsibility and sorrow.

The emperor is indeed the ruler of the country and the heaven of the people of the world. But this does not mean that all the people in the world should belong to the emperor, and their fate should be in their own hands.

In this world, the real beneficiary is the imperial power and the gentry, and the common people are just vassals!

Such a conclusion is too cruel, but it is also in line with the law of historical development, not only in China, but also in the vast land of Europe and even Asia, and even the vast majority of countries are much more backward than the Ming Dynasty.

Jiang Xinghuo does not know that under his leadership, the Ming Dynasty can rise rapidly in just a few decades, "new education", "industrial revolution", "four people are based on society", and a large number of technological transformations, will strengthen the strength of the Ming Dynasty.

In general, according to his method of change, the local people of the Ming Dynasty were also more receptive to this set of ideas, and were willing to abide by the laws and live according to the established rules.

But when the change reaches a certain point, there will inevitably be contradictions and conflicts between the old and new interest groups in order to compete for the right to speak, but once such a huge empire is not handled well and there is a split, it will inevitably fall into chaos and war.

Not only that, the fear and weakness of the feudal lord in the face of the historical trend shown by Zhu Di today also made Jiang Xinghuo give up some illusions of harmony between monarchs and ministers.

"Where do I go from here?"

Jiang Xinghuo sat under the tree for a long time, and no one appeared in front of him to comfort him and persuade him.

Maybe at this time, in his notebook, there should be Xu Miaojin who changed his mind, an old monk who has a good heart, and Zhu Gaoxu who came to say goodbye, but the fact is that no one appeared.

It's a dark and lonely path.

Everyone can become an enemy who can stand in your way, and even a friend who travels along the way, will turn a fork in the road at a certain intersection, or transform into someone who has been corrupted by darkness.

The flow of time seemed to have lost its meaning, and countless possible historical development directions in the future were rapidly arranged and combined in Jiang Xinghuo's brain.

A lot of possible futures appeared in front of him.

Jiang Xinghuo crossed them out one by one.

Until the last two futures, two put together, each accounting for fifty percent of the possible futures.

"Help me make a choice."

Jiang Xinghuo let out a "heh" breath, and a silver coin of Ba Si Pa Wen slipped out of his sleeve.

——Li Jinglong's gift.

The silver coin was bounced up by Jiang Xinghuo's fingers and thrown into the air, and at one moment, it even covered the moon.

When it fell in the palm of Jiang Xinghuo's hand, Jiang Xinghuo got the answer.

He looked at the palace in the distance and clutched the silver coins tightly.

(End of chapter)