Li Jiantai, who was ordered to kill him even though he wanted to die.

He is a great assistant to the cabinet, and he was actually ordered to do this job. This job is thankless!

But he had no other choice.

Why did Your Majesty ask for my errand?

With such questions in mind, although he really couldn't figure it out, Li Jiantai left for Wuxi, Changzhou Prefecture that day. He took a boat south from Nanjing and arrived in Wuxi in just two days.

Come to the holy land in the heart of Shilin, Jiangnan, Donglin Academy.

At this time, the bluestone slab outside the archway of Donglin Academy seemed to be carrying some blood, but it had returned to normal teaching.

However, there were many gentry gathering under the archway of the academy. They all looked at Li Jiantai with anger and the assistant minister of the Ming Dynasty.

"Does the Master of the Pavilion have to destroy Donglin Academy?"

The leading squire asked in front of the archway.

"This is the emperor's destiny. The emperor's destiny cannot be violated! It must be destroyed!"

When answering, Li Jiantai looked up at the Donglin Academy.

In fact, when he was young, he was friends with many Donglin Party members. But... this is the emperor's destiny!

What a pity...

Looking at the Donglin Academy, which was built in the Northern Song Dynasty, Li Jiantai couldn't help but sigh.

In the 32nd year of Wanli, Donglin scholar Gu Xiancheng and others re-established and restored it and gathered here to give lectures to promote the political philosophy of the Donglin Party. Since then, Donglin Academy has become a cultural gathering area in the south of the Yangtze River and the main public opinion center for discussing state affairs.

The famous Donglin Party came from here, now...

"Please be kind to you!"

A gentry bowed and petitioned.

In fact, in history, the Ming Dynasty also banned and destroyed academies. For example, Zhang Juzheng once banned and destroyed academies. However, the "ban on destruction" is nothing more than posting seals on the academies. Anyway, the mountain is high and the emperor is far away, so everyone can cooperate with the show.

"I was ordered by the emperor to destroy all the academy into white ground, and bricks and tiles remain!"

Li Jiantai said coldly.

"Come on, do it!"

At the order of the old master, a group of officers and soldiers rushed into Donglin Academy with hammers and other objects and began to demolish Donglin Academy. The young scholars tried to stop Li Jiantai from destroying Donglin Academy. Some scholars cursed Li Jiantai loudly for being a "scum in the scholar" and a "traitorous minister in the court" and even picked up bricks and stones to smash him.

In response to this, Li Jiantai just stood there and let them insult him, but he probably only understood the pain in his heart. He knew the virtues of these scholars. As long as he shouted loudly, these people would inevitably become weak.

But……

Why……

Sighing a long time.

Looking at the soldiers who started to demolish the academy, Li Jiantai thought of the scenes of making friends with the Donglin Party members when he was young, and endured the insults around him, and he thought to himself.

"Your Majesty, this is to let me gather all the hatred of Shilin!"

Sighing at the emperor's methods and staring at the academy, Li Jiantai's eyes turned cold and he snorted coldly.

"Dropping down all the academy and burning it!"

A group of officers and soldiers immediately took action, smashing Donglin Academy while pouring the entire academy with tinder oil, and then using dry firewood to help burn.

But after a moment, the entire Donglin Academy turned into a sea of ​​fire. The fire burned for a whole day and finally turned into a rubble field. This so-called "Shilin Monument" was burned into white ground by a fire.

Faced with this tragic situation, many scholars cried loudly for it, and the government and the people were shocked after hearing it. At the same time, the court issued an order to continue to seize the "Fushe" that the successor of Donglin and the "Donglin Times" they founded. As for the former site of Donglin Academy, it was flattened and rebuilt into a park, becoming the first park in Wuxi County.

A seemingly mighty storm ended with the retreat of Shilin. The counterattack of Shilin was not only meaningless, but even turned into a joke. It also made all the people in Shilin understand that the imperial power of the Ming Dynasty was imperial power!

This imperial power is not only impossible to "rule with hindrance", but also uses a knife to remind the world of the sacredness of imperial power.

In the thirteenth year of Gansheng, it will be the twelfth lunar month.

Li Jiantai, who became famous for burning Donglin Academy, finally received approval after writing three consecutive letters to request retirement.

On the way back to his hometown, when passing Yangzhou Prefecture, I happened to see a series of prisoners who were escorted to the dock by officials. The prisoners were both men and women, crying all the way, yelling about injustice.

They were all killed because their children participated in the rebellion, and what awaited them was exile and inheritance.

Who told their children not to study hard and instead gathered to cause trouble?

As for Chenghua, this is the main exile place in recent years.

As the first "Southern Barbarian Land" conquered by the Ming Dynasty, after Myanmar surrendered, while killing people to establish his authority, a large number of immigrants moved to Myanmar and Chenghua under the temptation of women and land. As the latest province of the Ming Dynasty, the broken place was more primitive and backward than Yunnan, with miasma everywhere and snakes and insects, and it was definitely a wilderness.

Even Li Dingguo himself was infected in Chenghua Prefecture. If it weren't for the special quinine medicine, he would have died of illness there.

However, for the Ming Dynasty, conquering this land was inevitable for the Ming Dynasty to expand. Now it is Myanmar and in the future it will be Laos. That place is even more backward than Chenghua. After Chenghua established a province, many chieftains of the Xuanwei Office of Laos were forced to return to the Ming Dynasty and agreed to the Ming Dynasty to set up a garrison in Laos.

This kind of surrender is completely bullying others by virtue of power.

Laos is only called the "Ming Dynasty Lao Xuanwei Office" when facing the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, they privately called themselves "Nanzhan". These guys carried the Ming Dynasty's monarch and ministers, and had long claimed to be the country. During this period, they were invaded by Annan and forced to become a vassal state of Annan, which is equivalent to a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty and is also a vassal territory of the Ming Dynasty. In recent years, Laos has been bullied by Annan a lot. After establishing Chenghua Province, the Ming Dynasty sent angels to coerce and induce Laos to agree to the Ming Dynasty to set up a garrison in Laos.

Today, the Ming Dynasty has more than 15,000 troops stationed in Laos, and cultivated and developed various places in Laos in the form of garrisons. Just like the Ming army was in the military farming in Guizhou, it was precisely because of the military households of those garrisons and the subsequent Han immigration that the Ming Dynasty achieved its conquest of the southwest.

Although all this is just the beginning, one thing that is certain is that Laos in the future will be eroded little by little like Guizhou. In fact, only Annan and Siam are left in the entire Nanbar region.

As a cabinet minister, Li Jiantai is of course very clear that according to Your Majesty's will, all exiled prisoners south of the Yangtze River will be sent to Chenghua and Laos to enrich the number of Han people. Your Majesty plans to spend twenty years to "immigrate" one million people to Chenghua Province and Laos. By then, there will be nothing Laos in this world. Establishing a province in the local area is to follow the flow.

Of course, at present, Chenghua was still the one who took the initiative to explore. These exiled gentry clans in front of them were all the seeds of the Ming Dynasty's education and inheritance, and the seeds of Confucian culture. They will spread language and writing locally, and may not be able to bear fruit after a hundred years.

Why!

Suddenly, Li Jiantai sighed.

Listening to his father's sigh, his son asked.

"Why did my father sigh?"

"Our Majesty..."

Shaking his head, Li Jiantai did not continue. The emperor not only had the will, but also had the means, just like using him.

Why did he use him to demolish Donglin Academy?

Rather than saying that an important official in the court needs to intimidate all sides, it is better to just use it.

On the way back from Wuxi, he understood very clearly. The reason why His Majesty asked him to go to Wuxi was simply... he wanted to lend him to use it again last time.

He went to demolish Donglin Academy and bear the resentment of scholars all over the world. Then what?

The rest naturally retired after success.

He had no choice but to do this. Even if he knew His Majesty’s thoughts, he had to do this.

This emperor may support the ministers, but sometimes the ministers must also have their own sacrifices.

Just like now, he has to do something, such as doing something along the way to avoid it. Even if he has to take the blame, fortunately, he has retired now.

Fortunately, Your Majesty still has old feelings, so you can at least guarantee that Your Majesty will not have a son in the future no matter what.
Chapter completed!