While the father and son were talking, the housekeeper came in and reported: "Master, the Holy Spirit has arrived!"
"What?" Shi Kefa's face changed drastically when he heard this, and he stood up hurriedly and said, "Longjiang, hurry up, pick up the lady in the backyard, and go to the gate to greet the holy driver."
"Yes." Stewie agreed and turned around to leave.
"Sir, it's too late." The butler stamped his feet and said, "The holy driver has already entered the gate by now!"
However, the housekeeper still underestimated Chongzhen. Almost as soon as the housekeeper finished speaking, Chongzhen's voice sounded outside the study: "Mr. Shi Ge, I came uninvited. You won't blame me for being rude, right?"
When he looked up anxiously, he saw Chongzhen already appearing at the door of the study.
This was completely beyond Shi Kefa's surprise. I thought to myself, Your Majesty, you are too willful. Since ancient times, the journey of the Holy Emperor has been such a grand event. All the etiquette of the Emperor's journey is indispensable. How can there be someone like you?
?
Besides, if you act like this, it will be difficult for me to be a minister. I will be scolded by the imperial censor for neglecting the emperor.
At least you can stay at the gate of the mansion for a while, so that I can take the concubine and madam to the gate to greet him.
While Shi Kefa was cursing, he took Shi Dewei with him. The housekeeper knelt on the ground and said, "I, Shi Kefa, bow down before the Holy One. May the Holy One be blessed with peace of mind."
"Stay flat." Chongzhen raised his hand to signal Shi Kefa and others to stand up.
When Shi Kefa got up, he saw that Chongzhen had already stood in front of the desk and was reading the calligraphy on the desk.
Shi Dewei became a little nervous and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, this is what I heard you say in Piyong. I thought it was good, so I wrote it down silently for my father to see."
Chongzhen smiled and asked, "Are you Shi Dewei?"
Shi Kefa hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, this son is the adoptive son of a man adopted by me."
"I know," Chongzhen said, "Shige has no children, so he adopted Shi Dewei as his adopted son."
After saying this, Chongzhen said again: "Shi Dewei, I have a few words to say to your father. You go and guard outside."
"I obey!" Shi Dewei quickly exited the study after hearing this.
Chongzhen then said to the six people following him: Wang Chengen, Lu Jiude, Gao Qiqian, Hu Guozhu, Wu Batan, Meng Ketu and so on: "You all also get out."
Hu Guozhu said worriedly: "Your Majesty?"
"It doesn't matter." Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "If there is only one person in the entire Ming Dynasty who will not harm me, then this person must be Mr. Shi Ge, so I have nothing to worry about here."
"I obey the order." Hu Guozhu and others bowed and exited.
Shi Kefa and Chongzhen were the only two people left in the study.
Chongzhen pointed to the calligraphy on the desk and asked Shi Kefa: "Mr. Shi Ge, what do you think?"
Shi Kefa considered his words for a while and said: "The profoundness of His Majesty's thoughts and the thoroughness of his view of things are far beyond what I can fathom. For example, it is unheard of to say that civil and military divisions belong to this policy, but when I think about it carefully, I find it indescribable.
, In this way, we can not only avoid the shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty’s insufficient military ethics, but also eliminate the disaster of military officials usurping power, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.”
Shi Kefa was still very cautious. He only talked about the benefits of separation of civil and military affairs, and specifically did not mention that the cabinet should rule the country.
But Chongzhen didn't have so many taboos and took the initiative to raise it: "Mr. Shige, do you think the cabinet administration I mentioned is feasible? Is there anything you need to add?"
"This..." Shi Kefa hesitated.
Chongzhen said: "Just say it directly, speak it boldly and confidently."
"I accept the decree." Shi Kefa expressed his thoughts directly, "Your Majesty, if we can really do this, our Ming Dynasty will have no flaws. From now on, all government affairs will be handled by the cabinet, and all conquests will be decided by the emperor. Each side performs its duties.
By not interfering with each other and working closely together, we can really make the sun, moon, mountains and rivers exist forever."
Shi Kefa actually agreed with some of Gao Hongtu's views.
For example, a cabinet in power is definitely better than an emperor in power.
Because the chief ministers of the cabinet can basically guarantee that they are all elites.
But there is almost no way for the emperor to ensure that he is an elite.
"Even if the sun, moon, mountains and rivers are here forever, there is no immortal dynasty in the world."
Chongzhen waved his hand and said: "Mr. Shige, let me ask you now, if you entrust full power to the cabinet, how do you plan to govern? Oh, this is just a private discussion."
Shi Kefa breathed a sigh of relief and said: "The first thing is to raise food and salary for the Holy One..."
"Well, you don't have to worry about food and salary. I will find a way to solve it myself." Chongzhen said, "You only talk about how to govern?"
Shi Kefa said: "Now that the Hubu Bank has been established and the Hubu Exchange has begun selling bonds, the problem of insufficient state funds has been temporarily solved. Therefore, I plan to rectify the officialdom first."
Chongzhen then asked: "How does Mr. Shi Ge plan to rectify the administration of officials?"
"Start with the bad habits of officialdom." Shi Kefa said, "We must get rid of bad officialdom habits such as welcoming people to and from the officialdom, eating and receiving cards, etc. After getting rid of these bad officialdom habits, we will make great efforts to rectify them, so that the officialdom of Ming Dynasty will be the same from now on."
Clear."
Just from this point, it is enough to see that Shi Kefa is not a corpse-eater, he still has ideas.
"Okay, I look forward to the Ming Dynasty's officialdom becoming upright and clean as soon as possible." Chongzhen nodded and said, "Then from tomorrow, Mr. Shi Ge, you will return to the cabinet to take charge of matters."
"Since I said this in Piyongmingtang, I will definitely keep it true."
"In the future, decrees drafted by the cabinet will no longer need to be sent to the Supervisor of Ceremonies for approval and can be promulgated directly."
"As well as the evaluation, selection and dismissal of all officials, I will no longer interfere. Everything is decided by the cabinet."
After saying this for a while, Chongzhen said again: "Of course, I can only agree to you verbally now, but when the time is right, we can start revising the ancestral precepts of Huang Ming and write this article into the ancestral precepts."
"Your Majesty." Shi Kefa bowed his hands and said with some embarrassment, "Your Majesty..."
The emperor only invited him twice and returned to the cabinet with a sullen face. Shi Kefa still felt a little embarrassed.
"Shi Kefa." Chongzhen's face immediately became stern and he said, "What I despise the most is your Confucian red tape, three invitations, four invitations or even eighteen invitations. Are they really that important to you Confucian disciples?
"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "This..." Shi Kefa was suddenly speechless, thinking that Confucianism would be a good face, but he couldn't say it out loud.
"What I hate the most in my life is these red tapes." Chongzhen snorted, "Before the crown prince accepted a concubine, I asked the Ministry of Rites to complete the entire process within three days, and the censor even insulted me for being disrespectful of etiquette."
"I am not contemptuous of etiquette, but some etiquette is really intolerable to me."
"Take binding your feet, for example. This bad habit is simply harmful to nature. I will get rid of it sooner or later."
"Another example is giving a reward to a widow to encourage her to remain a widow. This is also due to Qian Tianhe."
After saying this for a while, Chongzhen continued: "We are in troubled times right now. A large number of the country's strong men have been lost or even died in battles. There are so many widows in the world. If everyone becomes a chaste and martyr wife, then who will give birth to children? For a country and a country
For a dynasty, population is the most precious resource, so the bad habit of giving honorary banners to chaste and martyrs is really unacceptable."
Listening to Chongzhen's remarks, Shi Kefa felt that his whole outlook was shattered.
The binding of small feet has been around since ancient times, so it must be abolished? The banquet given to chaste and martyrs must also be abolished?
Chongzhen went on to say: "There are also sacrifices to heaven and earth, sacrifices to the Ancestral Temple, etc., and the regulations must be re-drawn by the Ministry of Rites. The worship process should be solemn and solemn. The simpler and more time-saving the better."
"Don't let a simple act of kneeling down and worshiping lead to eighteen different tricks."
"My time is very precious, and I don't have any extra time to waste on these etiquette."
"Ah this?" Shi Kefa's three views have been shaken to pieces. Should even rituals such as offering sacrifices to heaven and earth and offering sacrifices to the Ancestral Temple be simplified? But if they are made too simple, where will the royal dignity be?
"I don't want such royal prestige." Chongzhen said, "The royal prestige is not achieved by these red tapes. If the royal family does not cultivate virtue and morality is not matched, no matter how many red tapes it is, it will be difficult for the people to gain prestige.
If you don’t dare to say it in front of your face, don’t you dare to say it behind your back? Even if you don’t dare to say it behind your back, don’t you dare to say it in your heart? Not necessarily.”
"On the other hand, if you have both virtue and virtue, you won't have the blessing of etiquette, and you can not be angry and have authority, right?"
After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "Mr. Shi Ge, times are constantly developing, and knowledge is becoming more and more popular. Have you not seen that the number of children, scholars and even candidates in our Ming Dynasty far exceeds that of any previous dynasty?"
"I have also discovered this." Shi Kefa said, "It proves the prosperity of culture and education in our dynasty..."
"What does this have to do with culture and education?" Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "It's just because of the continuous advancement of papermaking and printing technology that books are getting cheaper and cheaper, so more and more students can afford books and have the ability to receive education. This
This led to an increase in the number of children born, scholars and even candidates."
After a pause, Chongzhen continued: "It won't be long before the price of books will continue to drop, and the number of students who have the ability to acquire knowledge will be even greater. Therefore, the opening up of people's wisdom is a general trend. It is inevitable. Once people's wisdom is fully opened, it is expected that these
Maintaining royal dignity through red tape is a waste of time."
Shi Kefa could no longer keep up with the Holy Spirit's thinking at this time.
Chongzhen himself also realized that his words were a bit too arrogant.
At that moment, Chongzhen said again: "Let me simply summarize it, that is, all etiquette should be solemn, solemn, simple, and time-saving as the most basic principles. Anything inconsistent with this will be reformed."
"And Mr. Shige, please stop pursuing those false reputations."
"I don't care about these false names, so what do you have to care about?"
After saying this, Chongzhen continued: "You and I, the monarchs and ministers, worked together to make the Ming Dynasty the most prosperous dynasty in China for thousands of years. You and I, the monarchs and ministers, also became the most prosperous emperor in China's civil and military affairs and the chief minister of the greatest cabinet.
Reputation, isn’t it far better than the vain reputation of asking me for three invitations, four invitations, or even eighteen invitations?”
Chongzhen's words finally reached Shi Kefa's heart.
Yes, compared with the three immortals of meritorious deeds and good deeds, what are those false rituals?
At that moment, Master Shi Ke bowed his head to the ground and said: "If it weren't for the words of Your Majesty, I would have almost lost my mind. In this case, I will return to the cabinet tomorrow to take care of the matter."
"Well, this is the responsibility that I, the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty's cabinet, should have." Chongzhen nodded happily.
But soon, Chongzhen said with a straight face: "Mr. Shige, then the next step is the dialogue between the Ming Emperor and the chief minister of the cabinet."
Shi Kefa said: "I respectfully listen to the Holy Instructions."
"Let's talk about the Donglin Party first." Chongzhen said solemnly, "Gao Hongtu, Jiang Yueguang, Zhang Youyu, Zuo Guangxian, Yuan Pengnian, Liu Zhengzong, Li Jinglian, Lu Lang, Huang Erding, Luo Wanxiang and more than twenty others
Any official, big or small, who is related to the regicide case or the frame-up case must formally plead guilty in the form of a memorial."
"As long as they are willing to write a letter and plead guilty, I will not offend my family."
"Even if it involves regicide and rebellion, we can only pursue the person himself, and at most the family property will be confiscated."
"But the family members of the criminals do not need to be implicated, the men do not need to be beheaded, and the female family members do not need to be consigned to low status."
After a pause, Chongzhen continued: "However, as long as there is one official involved in the case who does not appear on the list, then don't blame me for being cruel. I can also do what Taizu and Chengzu could do back then!"
Shi Kefa was awe-struck when he heard this. What does it mean to kill people and kill their hearts? This is called killing people and killing their hearts.
Not only do I want to kill you, but I also want you to confess your crime in writing before you are executed.
At that moment, Shi Kefa said: "Your Majesty, I will definitely convey the message to the Donglin Party members."
"Wrong, what I just said was for Gao Hongtu and the twenty-odd prisoners." Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "But I also have something to say to all the Donglin Party members. I limit them to three days.
Nei Nei publicly published a newspaper in the Huangming Times, announcing his disassociation from the Donglin Party, and has no further ties with the Donglin Party since then."
"Huang Ming Times?" Shi Kefa couldn't help being stunned when he heard this.
Who is Huangming Times? Why haven’t I heard of it?
"Mr. Shige will find out if we go back and take a look at Tongji Street." Chongzhen said, "Mr. Shige, please take the lead on this matter. After all, you were once a member of the Donglin Party."
Shi Kefa nodded and said: "This matter is my responsibility."
Shi Kefa has no psychological burden about drawing a clear line with the Donglin Party.
That day when he turned against Gao Hongtu and others in the court, Shi Kefa had completely broken with the Donglin Party.
Chongzhen added: "Anyone who declares his separation from the Donglin Party in a newspaper can continue to serve as an official in the government. Anyone who is unwilling to declare his separation from the Donglin Party in a newspaper will either be dismissed from office and return to his hometown, or wait for the dismissal from the civil service department!"
In short, there will not be another Donglin Party official in the Ming Dynasty from now on!"
Chongzhen said that he would uproot the Donglin Party, so he really uprooted the Donglin Party.
When Shi Kefa heard this, his face suddenly turned dark, and he said to himself that you just said you would not interfere in the appointment and dismissal of cabinet officials.
Chongzhen chuckled lightly and said: "Mr. Shi Ge, don't blame me for not keeping my words. After all, you haven't returned to the cabinet yet, but I will not only uproot the Donglin Party, but also completely destroy it."
Criticize it, criticize it, and then step on it with 10,000 feet, making it impossible for it to stand up forever."
"That's it, I understand."
Shi Kefa could only sigh sadly.
Think about how powerful the Donglin Party members were back then?
Unexpectedly, I have fallen into this situation today, alas.
