Jie Jin was standing outside the warm room holding a thick stack of documents. Suddenly, he saw Li Zhigang coming out of the room with a happy face, and he seemed to be walking with a sense of airiness.
He meant to ask, but under the emperor's nose, he could only signal with his eyes.
"Xie Xie, come in, the emperor is waiting!" Wang Bashi walked up to him and said with a smile.
"Thank you!" Xie Jin smiled warmly at the bastard.
~~
"What's the matter with Jie Aiqing?" Zhu Yunxi rubbed his shoulders and leaned on the Arhat bed.
Xie Jin stepped forward, put the memorial in his hand on the imperial desk and said, "It is about the compilation of books by the Hanlin Academy. There are some issues that I am not sure about, so I can only tell the emperor!"
"What's the point of editing a book?" Zhu Yunxi said with a smile.
The purpose of compiling books is to find a job for those young people who can keep busy for a few years, so that they can fall into a kind of joy and excitement, dreaming of leaving their names in history, and have no time to attack the New Deal in the future.
"Something happened, and it's not a small one!" Xie Jin looked solemn.
Zhu Yunxi sat up straight and said with a bit of seriousness, "Tell me what you said!"
"The emperor's intention to compile the book is to take the essence of books from all over the world and compile it into a book to be passed down through the ages!" Xie Jin said slowly, "But I found that during the process of compiling the book, there were inevitably some... well, it was not satisfactory.
!”
"You mean, some people choose books based on their own likes and dislikes, and even destroy books?" Zhu Yunxi asked with a stern face.
"It doesn't seem to be there for the time being, but there are signs!" Xie Jin said, "Compiling ancient and modern books should include hundreds of schools of thought throughout the ages. But the article on scientific research in the compiled books said that this dynasty's scientific research must
Take Zhu Xi's "Collected Commentary on Chapters and Sentences of the Four Books" as the standard."
"If the doctrine of sages is limited to what Zhu Xi did, wouldn't that be restrictive? If that's the case, wouldn't all those who get out of the exam be formal nerds?"
"There is another thing. Confucius and Mencius have been the two saints throughout the ages. Although our dynasty only respects Confucius, Mencius's learning is still a good way to govern the world. In the ancient and modern books compiled today, there is no mention of Meng Sheng in the article "Encouragement to Learning".
carry!"
"Obviously, there is something wrong with him!"
Hearing this, Zhu Yunxi fell into silence.
The imperial examination focused on Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism and only respected Confucius. This was actually the intention of the old man.
The imperial examination is a good thing. It provides the people at the bottom with the best way to move up. It is also relatively fair. But at the same time, the reason why the examination is limited to those few books is to confine the mind.
The principles of monarch and minister, father and son, monarch and minister, these things are spread to the world through scholars, so that everyone can be a good person who obeys the law, is loyal to the emperor and loves the country.
As for Mencius, because his thoughts included the idea that the people are more important than the emperor, he was always disliked by the old man.
Although the old man is somewhat like the emperor of the people, he is the emperor after all, and he is also the founding hero of the country. He can agree in his heart that the emperor should despise the people, and he can also practice it. But he must not let this theory
It has spread widely throughout the world and is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Because that would be detrimental to the rule of the Zhu family.
Now it seems that what Xie Jin said was obviously ignored by those Hanlins in the process of compiling the book in order to avoid conflict with the original tone set by the old man.
But in Zhu Yunxi's view, this already set tone must be changed.
What’s new in the so-called New Ming Dynasty, if it can’t even be enlightened? It’s been done for thousands of years to imprison people’s hearts, so it’s okay if we don’t do it now. Continuing to imprison will only make this country continue to be lifeless and enter that dead cycle again.
, let alone innovation and development.
"What you said is very good!" Zhu Yunxi nodded and said, "Is there anything more?"
"And..." As he said that, Xie Jin seemed a little afraid to say anything.
"Just say what you want to say, I never offend others with my words!" Zhu Yunxi said with a smile.
"Many books collected from the people record many times in the early years of the Kingdom...when officials and gentry were convicted and died for their words." Xie Jin said hesitantly, "These things, the Hanlin Academy
We were debating over whether to record it or delete it!"
"Ha!" Zhu Yunxi couldn't help shaking his head and smiling bitterly when he heard this.
Being punished for words is a literary prison.
Many people talk about how the literary inquisition in the later Manchu Dynasty was. In fact, to be fair, the literary inquisition in the Ming Dynasty was not much less. However, the scale was not that large, and the nature was also very different.
The Literary Prisons of the Manchu Qing Dynasty focused on consolidating rule and exterminating literary talents. The Literary Prisons of the early years of the Ming Dynasty were mostly caused by the old man being too sensitive when he first became emperor.
From the first year of Hongwu to the time when the old man abdicated, there are nineteen times recorded.
The reasons are very complicated. The main reason is that the old man is disgusted with the insinuations of the scholars in his heart, and there are also frustrated scholars who discuss the old man's background in private.
For example, Zhao Boning, the preceptor of the Peking Prefectural School, presented the "Longevity Table" to the old man. There was a sentence in the "Longevity Table". Because of this sentence, the preceptor of the Prefectural School was beheaded after questioning.
Therefore, in Huaixi dialect, it has the same pronunciation as thief.
If you look down on your children and grandchildren, you will do something; if you look down on your children and grandchildren, you will be a thief.
The old man started his career as a rebel. No matter how unpopular the Yuan Dynasty was, rebellion was just rebellion, and those who rebelled were thieves.
Zhao Boning's poem made the world-famous old man think that he was secretly ridiculing himself and cursing the descendants of the Zhu family as thieves, so he lost his head.
Another time, the old man visited a temple privately and saw the poems of monks on the wall. After all, there are collections and dispersions, so why not be more relaxed. The old man was furious at that time, because at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the rule of law was strict with punishment.
Country, are these monks mocking the old man for being too strict in governing the country?
An order was issued on the spot that all the monks in the temple should be executed.
There was another time, which actually had something to do with Zhu Yunxi.
After he was established as the grandson of the emperor, Wu Xian was taught by the De'an Mansion to submit a letter to the "Congratulations to the Grandson of the Crown Prince". There was a line in the book "The World is Right. Because of this word, the old man directly asked the Jin Yiwei to kill Wu Xian as well."
Already.
Same as thieves!
In the old man's mind, my eldest grandson has been established as the grandson of the emperor. What do you mean by using this word "stealing"? Does it mean that my eldest grandson's establishment of the throne is incorrect, or that I have obtained the country incorrectly.
Another time, when Zhu Biao was still alive, Taizhou officials wrote a letter "Xie Donggong gave a banquet". There was a saying, "The body is strong and the body is peaceful, and the algae is peaceful." This sentence was nothing at first, but Zhu Biao died of illness not long after.
The old man suddenly remembered, doesn't wearing a hat equal an early death? Doesn't this curse his son to die early?
The scholar who suffered from mother-in-law cursed my son. My son is really dead now. Let’s chop off his head!
Regardless of whether these various literary inquisitions are meant to insinuate or ridicule the Zhu family's low background, in fact, it is fair to say that they will not die!
Therefore, under this atmosphere, everyone in the official circles of the Ming Dynasty was in danger, and the folk literati were also trembling, and they were extremely careful when speaking and writing, for fear that the wrong wording of a sentence would lead to death.
However, these crimes for speaking out were mostly among officials and literati. There was a fundamental difference from the Manchus in that they did not affect ordinary people.
But even if this is the case, it is not a good thing.
Now we need to compile books, and we have found many folk books that record these stories. Now we are faced with two problems, whether to compile all these stories into ancient and modern books, or not to record them at all and pretend not to know.
Or even, should all these books be burned?
Burning books has been done in all dynasties, and the methods of imprisoning people's thoughts are similar. Just like when Zhu Di came to power in the original era, all the works left by the loyal ministers of Emperor Jianwen were burned, and no words were allowed to be left in the world.
All records including when Emperor Jianwen was the emperor and when Zhu Di was the king of Yan, were also destroyed.
"Your Majesty, what do you think?" Xie Jin saw that Zhu Yunxi was silent and asked.
"You draw inferences about other things. You are far smarter than ordinary people. Why are you so confused about this kind of thing?" Zhu Yunxi asked with a smile.
Xie Jin smiled awkwardly and said in his heart, "I can't be confused! These things are related to your old man's reputation. If I let them compile it, you will be held accountable in the future. Wouldn't I be the unlucky one? If I don't allow them to compile it,
Wouldn’t the crime of destroying the book also fall on me? Although I did not participate in the compilation of the book, because I have the responsibility of judging, I am not a human being!"
Zhu Yunxi tapped his fingers lightly on the table, "Postpone!"
understood!
Xie Jin understood immediately, and at the same time he secretly scolded those officials for being ignorant.
Compiling a book is such a huge project. There are many things that can be done, so why focus on these? Wouldn't everyone be happy to put it aside for now and talk about it later?
"There's another thing you have to remember!" Zhu Yunxi said seriously, "I order people to compile books not to whitewash peace, nor because of my personal preferences. None of the books can be burned or deleted.
,Understand?"
"I obey the decree!"
"By the way! I heard that you and Li Zhigang, the Minister of Rites, were friends of the same age. How are you doing?" Zhu Yunxi asked, holding up the tea cup.
"He?" Xie Jin thought about it and said, "Li Yixing is very smart, but!" After saying that, he paused and smiled, "But his character is a bit hard to describe!"
This chapter has been completed!