Early the next morning, Zhu Youxiao once again summoned the three ministers of the cabinet to come to the Qing Palace. The matter of the Royal Academy must be implemented as soon as possible.
"Your Majesty, there seems to be no difference between this Royal Academy and the Imperial College!"
After listening to what the emperor said, Wang Xiangqian felt that it was completely unnecessary.
Even Song Yingxing and Xu Guangqi, who had always supported the emperor, thought so.
But Zhu Youxiao just smiled. It was certainly difficult for ministers like him to understand Zhu Youxiao's purpose of opening a royal academy.
Nowadays, there are a lot of various academies in the Ming Dynasty, especially the four largest academies, namely Donglin, Jiangyou, Huizhou, and Guanzhong. Donglin Academy can be said to have the greatest influence, the widest and deepest involvement, and it can be said that the entire Jiangnan The world belongs to the Donglin Party.
Officials, businessmen, and scholars are tightly bound together, exploiting the people at the bottom together, fighting against the imperial power, and constantly making profits for themselves. If their rights are blocked, these people will not even hesitate to fight overtly and covertly from the emperor.
Isn't this how the military power was taken away? Now the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion is just a decoration. It is incomparable to what it was fourteen years ago. It has completely become a place where people eat and wait to die.
In addition to these four major academies, there are also political groups like Fushe, which are also composed of literati and gentry. Most of them are people who are seeking fame and reputation. The most important thing is to gather those who can't get elected.
Because these people could not pass the imperial examinations and could not enter the officialdom to express their so-called ambitions, they gathered together all day long to discuss political affairs. They criticized this and that, just like the keyboard warriors of later generations, who made nonsense when they knew something superficial. , if you can’t do it, I definitely can.
To put it simply, these people resent the imperial court and think that the current emperor is blind and cannot discover their rare talents.
Although they no longer expect to enter the officialdom through the imperial examination, their desire to be an official will never die, and it is stronger than ordinary people. They hope to increase their popularity and get into the emperor's sight by talking. After all, reputation is real. OK.
Even though these people are so clearly divided, from this academy to that academy, they can never unite when facing common interests. For example, during the most famous party struggle in the Wanli period, these people will always stand together, because as long as they do not If the Three Parties were driven out of the court, they would have no chance of getting ahead.
It is impossible for Zhu Youxiao to do such meaningless things with these talkers personally, and Huangming Academy is the best way to deal with it.
There can only always be one political group, especially those interest groups that have formed parties and must be completely eliminated.
Even among Zhu Youxiao's current six cabinet teams, there are probably many ministers who came from these academies. Even if they are not, they are more or less involved. In this big dyeing vat, there are very few people who can emerge from the mud without being dyed. people.
"What do you think of Donglin Academy?"
When the emperor ordered them to enter the palace and mentioned that they would open Huangming Academy, the three of them knew that today's matter would not be simple.
I just didn't expect that His Majesty would set his sights on Dong Lin. Donglin Academy is a behemoth. It seems that His Majesty is already determined to stop Dong Lin.
Donglin Academy began in the Song Dynasty and has been around for hundreds of years. In the past, Donglin Academy was still a very ordinary academy.
But since the beginning of the Wanli era, Donglin Academy has completely changed. It is no longer an ordinary academy, but has begun to transform into a political party, a political party that changed the direction of the Ming Dynasty, and was the most influential political party in the feudal dynasty for more than two thousand years. This
Political parties make even emperors fearful.
All this can be attributed to Gu Xiancheng, the founder of the Donglin Party, who was later dismissed by Emperor Wanli and returned to his hometown because of his participation in the national dispute.
But Gu Xiancheng, who returned to Wuxi, did not accept his fate because of this. He found another way and used the resources of Donglin Academy to create a political party, which was the Donglin Party.
Gu Xiancheng used the name of lecturing to satirize the government and highlight figures. Under their propaganda, this behavior was called Qing Yi, and he defined himself as a famous official in the Qing Dynasty.
At one time, the whole Ming Dynasty became "popular". In today's terms, it means that people from the imperial court admired his style and echoed him from afar. This kind of political lecture content formed a wide range of social influence.
Regardless of whether they were officials in the government, scribes in the opposition, or local gentry and literati from the south of the Yangtze River, they all came here because of its reputation. They all gathered around the Donglin Party, which flourished for a while and had a profound impact on the entire Ming Dynasty.
"Your Majesty, I only have two words to comment on Donglin Academy!"
When Zhu Youxiao saw that Xu Guangqi was hesitant to speak, he knew that he was asking for his consent. It seemed that these two words of evaluation were not good ones.
“It’s okay, Mr. Ge, to say it!”
Xu Guangqi said in a deep voice:
"Disaster!"
As soon as Xu Guangqi finished speaking, Wang Xiangqian and Wang Zaijin looked at him with wide eyes. Although they didn't have a good impression of Dong Lin, they didn't dare to say it so directly.
Zhu Youxiao was very interested. He didn't expect Xu Guangqi to be so tough.
"Then please ask Mr. Ge to explain to me what the word "disaster" means!"
"Your Majesty, the reason why I say they are a scourge is because according to my understanding, most people in Donglin are people who criticize empty talk about government affairs."
"During the Wanli period, many people in the court were from Donglin. However, they had no political achievements and no contribution to the country. They were not pragmatic and only wanted to fight for power and gain and criticize the court officials!"
Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but nodded. Xu Guangqi really understood what he said.
"What do Grand Sima and Yuan Fu think? Yuan Fu was a Jinshi in the fourth year of Longqing, and he has been an official for more than fifty years. You have all experienced the party struggle personally, and Yuan Fu has witnessed it from beginning to end.
I have witnessed it, so I also want to hear your true thoughts deep in your heart.”
Afraid that they would have any scruples, Zhu Youxiao said again:
"You are all my trusted ministers. If you have anything to say today, you can say it freely. Even if it involves my emperor, I will not blame you."
When the three cabinet academicians heard this, their hearts tightened. It seemed that His Majesty could no longer bear to eliminate Donglin.
They all have the emperor's trust, and His Majesty has personally guaranteed that although Xu Guangqi also directly revealed Donglin's true face, the water involved was too deep, and they had to be cautious.
They all know that the current Emperor is different from the previous Emperor, but after all, he is too young, even Emperor Shenzong cannot control him. Can the current seventeen-year-old Emperor do it? Does Your Majesty know the dangers involved?
Xu Guangqi asked again doubtfully:
"Could it be that the reason why His Majesty opened Huangming Academy was also related to the party struggle?"
Seeing that Xu Guangqi had this question, Zhu Youxiao nodded solemnly.