"Do you think being the emperor is an easy task?"
The winter weather was blue and clear, and the plum blossoms were in full bloom. In the snow-viewing building of the Royal Garden, the father and son's dinner was placed. The old man was eating while looking at Zhu Yunxi, who was shaking his arms unconsciously, with a teasing smile.
After a day of approving a mountain of memorials, I had to review them while discussing state affairs with my ministers, which made me exhausted.
The old man gave Zhu Yunxi a piece of yellow scrambled eggs with his own hands, and continued, "It's not that we have to let people look at you. You are good at everything, but you are too out of touch and can't sit still or calm down. I'll give you a little something.
, you just wander around!"
"When you are an emperor, you have to make decisions for the people of the world. You are the head of the world. If you are lazy alone, you will delay the entire Ming Dynasty!"
Zhu Yunxi nodded muffledly and ate the food with big mouthfuls.
"But then again!" The old man seemed to have a poor appetite. He stopped eating after a few bites and said, "Being an emperor is the easiest thing in the world. Just sit there when you have eaten and drank enough. The wind can't blow the sun.
No, neither cold nor hot."
"It's just talking, writing, and using your brain. If you don't understand anything, there are ministers below who will help you check for any gaps. If you're upset, you can curse. If you're angry, you can hit someone."
"When you are so angry, you can kill someone!"
"In this world, let alone common people, who among the princes, generals and ministers has this power?"
Zhu Yunxi knew that this was an old man’s joke, but behind power is responsibility. Among countless monarchs in history, how many of them could enjoy power and fulfill their responsibilities at the same time? Remember the website m.wxsy.
The emperor also has responsibilities. According to the traditional Confucian view, being an emperor is not for pleasure.
Throughout the ages, so many foolish kings may not necessarily be truly foolish. They were all taught by famous teachers and Confucian scholars. How could such men as human sperm not know the benefits of diligent government to the empire?
However, everyone was defeated by the word "Yan".
Diligence in government cannot be accomplished unless a king has great wisdom and perseverance. This is why in history, most of the emperors who reigned for a long time were virtuous and later became weak.
For example, the old man once wrote limericks back then, and he laughed at himself to the point of being exhausted.
"I got up before all the officials got up; all the officials were asleep before I fell asleep. I'm not as good as the rich man from the south of the Yangtze River. The sun is up three poles and I'm still hugging the quilt!"
In the vernacular, he wakes up earlier than a chicken and does more than an old scalper.
Zhu Yunxi smiled, put down his chopsticks, and looked at the old man, "Grandpa Huang, my grandson knows your hard work, and even more about your expectations for your grandson!" After saying that, after a slight pause, he continued, "It's just that manpower is sometimes poor!
"
"You have been on the throne for nearly thirty years, and you have been diligent and caring for the people day after day. No matter how big or small everything in the world is, you are fully aware of it."
"Diligence is a virtue, but if you sit there for a whole day, you will always get tired of it! Besides, people also have time to be energetic! If the emperor is sick, won't there be no one to deal with the big things in the world?"
"Besides, my grandson says something you don't like to hear. The descendants of future generations may not be so diligent in politics. If the family is unfortunate and there are a few prodigal sons who are not diligent in politics, we will have a great Ming Dynasty."
"What do you want to say?" The old man asked with a smile, holding a cup of hot tea, "Don't beat around the bush, just say it!"
Zhu Yunxi said sternly, "My grandson has also felt this recently. There are too many things in the world, and many of them do not need to be done personally. Otherwise, the emperor will be exhausted, and there may not be good results. It is better to select talents from among the ministers and help them."
While supporting government affairs, we can also handle some minor local government affairs!"
In fact, after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, almost all the most outstanding monarchs died of exhaustion.
Prince Zhu Biao has been sorting out the government affairs since he was more than ten years old. In Zhu Yunxi's memory, Zhu Biao was reading the book all the time, often without rest in the middle of the night. And before dawn, he would get up again.
Thinking about the history, Zhu Gaochi, who won the title of Renzong in the Ming Dynasty, was exhausted. He had been the chief steward of the Ming Dynasty for as many years as he had been the prince. His father, Zhu Di, was the master of everything.
I spent the whole day thinking about how to completely eliminate all the barbarians.
Later, the emperor was too tired, so he established a cabinet. Later, perhaps because the Zhu family had conflicts with civil servants, eunuchs were also brought in because of the ancestral teaching that eunuchs should not be involved in politics.
Later, the Qing Dynasty learned the lessons of the Ming Dynasty and established the Military Aircraft Department.
These two systems of closeness fundamentally illustrate a problem. The emperor cannot handle the world's affairs alone, let alone the emperor himself. The emperor's overall control and detailed division of labor are actually from another perspective.
, more efficient.
The old man thought for a while, then grinned, "You're talking nonsense!"
As he spoke, he curled his lips and said, "We know what you mean, you just want to be lazy. But let me ask you, whose family is this?"
"Let me give you an analogy. If a rich man in the countryside doesn't know how much land and livestock he has at home, he will definitely be fooled by the person in charge when collecting rent. Do you believe it?"
"Our family has the final say in the world! If you ask those officials to do some insignificant things for you today, you will give them more power tomorrow."
"When they have power, they will fool you! Let me tell you, all the officials in the world wish that the emperor would ignore government affairs and hide in the palace every day to have children. They have the final say in everything!"
"Power!" The old man suddenly emphasized his tone, "Do not give it to others, especially officials and ministers. If you give them power, you must compromise with them in the future. It is easy to give power away, but difficult to take it back!"
"Even if you only give them some small powers at the beginning, what about your children and grandchildren? When the time comes, these people will have no title but power. Even the emperor will not be able to deal with them at will, and he will even have to take three points into consideration!"
"When officials have power, they will have party disputes and fights among themselves! When the time comes, you, as the emperor, will not have to do anything but fight!"
There is some truth in what the old man said.
Think about the history of the middle and late Ming Dynasty, when Jiajing practiced alchemy and Wanli did not go to court. Although nothing major happened in the Ming Dynasty during those hundred years, there were even some martial arts such as the Three Great Conquests.
But under their rule, treacherous prime ministers, party politics, and financial depletion all became the triggers for the country's subsequent collapse. And from another perspective, whether Jiajing was thousands of miles away, their lack of governance was also tormented by those cabinet elders.
Yes, it is even a kind of struggle.
Especially Emperor Wanli. When he was a child, he was taught by Zhang Juzheng. He studied hard and was very talented in literature. He also wanted to be a good emperor. But when he grew up, he discovered that the actual controller of the empire was a group of senior civil servants headed by his teacher.
In the second and middle periods of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor had been making constant compromises with the civil service system represented by the elders.
"We let you supervise the country, just to seize power!" The old man continued, "Of all the officials in the world, use them only if you like them, and send away those you find annoying!"
"You will be a wise and benevolent king in the future, but you must also make officials afraid of you. You must let them know who is the master of the world!"
"We have abolished the Zhongshu Province and established six departments internally, which will directly obey the emperor's orders. Externally, we will establish vassal kings to guard the border cities. The nobles will lead the army, and there will be civilian officials watching over them. The royal guards are the eyes and ears of the emperor, so there is no need to worry about deception!"
"Under this situation, the country has no treacherous prime minister, no relatives or women to interfere in politics, and the inside and outside are integrated. Even if the country lasts for thousands of years, it can still withstand the torment!"
Yes, these things set by the old man have indeed made the Ming Dynasty extremely stable.
Thinking about it later, the Ming Dynasty struggled many times starting from the Tumubao Revolution, but it still stood firm. This is why.
In his previous life, Zhu Yunxi once read a book that said that the ruling structure of the Ming Dynasty could not be broken from within unless there were powerful external enemies.
If in later generations, the Jurchens in Jianzhou had not been watching with eager eyes, even if Li Zicheng occupied Beijing, he was unpopular due to his perverse behavior. He could not have stopped half of the Ming Dynasty's counterattack.
However, what Zhu Yunxi wanted was not like this, a Ming Dynasty that would slowly age like an old man.
If only he were a Ming Dynasty who would always stand on top of the world, protect the Chinese people, and avoid hundreds of years of catastrophes.
He does not want future generations to lament the greatness of their ancestors. What he wants is for future generations to enjoy the glory of China forever!
"Remember!" the old man said again from the side, "Seize power! It is in your own hands! You must not do it the same way as the scholar-bureaucrats govern the world. This is your world, and you have to make the decision!"
"You can't rely on anyone in the world, you can only rely on yourself! If we had only relied on others, we wouldn't be where we are today!"
"Dasun, apart from your escape, there is another bad thing about you. That is, you are not ruthless enough!"
"While we are still here, we can still support you for a while. Seize power and be ruthless!"
This chapter has been completed!