Chapter 1,290: Hu Zongxian, the Chief Assistant of the Cabinet, Let the Heroes Advise the Heroes
Fusi Chao Prison in Beizhen is truly the best prison in the world.
Not to mention how many officials have entered this place during the forty years of Jiajing's rule, just in these few years...
Tao Zhongwen was imprisoned here and later executed.
Yan Song was imprisoned here and later executed.
After all, Dongchang is not as good as Jin Yiwei. At this time, Feng Bao, the eunuch who led Dongchang to arrest Hai Rui, was walking in the deep stone path, listening to his own footsteps, staring at the dimly lit oil lamp on the wall, and his back felt cold.
The four stone walls, the stone floors, and the stone slabs on the roof are all made of granite.
The prison is one foot deep, has no sunlight all year round, and is as dry as the humidity common in the capital. People locked in it, even if they are not punished, will inevitably become weak and suffer from all kinds of diseases over time, even if they are not punished.
Feng Bao couldn't stand the sight of it, but he stood in front of the deepest cell door. The light from the lantern outside shone in, and he vaguely saw Hai Rui wearing shackles and handcuffs, sitting on the scattered straw, closing his eyes and meditating.
"This man is really like a man whose appearance has not changed despite the collapse of Mount Tai. No wonder he dares to write a memorial to disobey Long Live the Lord!"
Feng Bao secretly said in his heart, he didn't know whether it was surprise or admiration, but no matter what, he remembered his godfather Lu Fang's instructions and said: "Open the cell door!"
The cell door opened slowly, Hai Rui opened his eyes, and when he saw a eunuch coming in, he frowned slightly.
Feng Bao was not annoyed by this reaction. He walked a few steps closer and said, "Hai Rui, the Jin Yiwei has found out. You sent your family away, bought a coffin, and then wrote a memorial. It's obviously a death remonstrance!"
When Hai Rui heard this, although his body didn't move, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He didn't care about himself, but he was also worried that what he did would arouse the emperor's suspicion and implicate others.
Therefore, during this period of time, he did not interact with any colleagues or friends. Sure enough, when the investigation was carried out afterwards, no innocent persons were implicated.
Feng Bao said this as a foreshadowing. Seeing Hai Rui relax slightly, he continued: "However, when the emperor is angry, he bleeds for thousands of miles. Not to mention a man as strong as the master, from ancient times to the present, whoever lives in the world will look like him.
How can you endure such a treasonous memorial? Tonight is truly a revelation!"
Hai Rui didn't respond to this and didn't even bother to answer.
Since ancient times, the duty of the imperial censor's adviser has been to advise the emperor on his actions. Not to mention the blunt words of Bao Zheng in the Song Dynasty and Song Renzong's resignation. Even many emperors whose reputations will be left to later generations listened to the censor's advice.
But now, all the officials are following the evil of the king and flattering their superiors. The royal family is greedy and they are greedy. They work together to wipe out the people's wealth in the world. This is the situation where thousands of horses and horses are singing in unison. Otherwise, as the head of the six ministries, why would he go to the army?
This kind of memorial?
Feng Bao observed his words, stopped complaining in this regard, and changed the topic: "Thanks to the divine benevolence and magnanimity, Hai Rui, you are a blessed person to be born in this dynasty. Now there is an opportunity, you have to
Get a grip!"
Hai Rui's eyes moved and he finally said: "Has the demon entered the palace?"
Feng Baowei was startled: "What?"
Hai Rui stared at him with burning eyes: "Let me ask you, is it the demon who revealed the emperor's name who entered the palace to confuse His Majesty?"
Even in the dark cell, Feng Bao was startled by his penetrating gaze and subconsciously wanted to step back.
But after all, he was also an outstanding figure among the eunuchs. He stopped abruptly, and couldn't help but feel a little angry. He broke the rhythm he had prepared, but he didn't dare to scold him. He could only say coldly: "Master Hai is so majestic, but our family is here to save you." your!"
Hai Rui became more and more certain that Yu Jing, the one who took off the royal list, had done something to make the eunuchs in Dongchang come to speak kindly to him.
He was not happy about this and became angry, saying sternly: "Your Majesty must not listen to the words of that monster and bring chaos to the country and the country. I, Hai Rui, want nothing more. I only hope that your Majesty will wake up for the sake of all people in the world and for the long-term peace and stability!"
"Alas! It turns out that oil and salt are not enough!"
Feng Bao sighed, but when he thought about what the other party had done, he felt normal again and had a headache: "This person's human nature is like a stone, and his temper is bad and hard. I'm afraid he won't be able to accomplish the things entrusted by his godfather..."
As expected, no matter what Feng Bao said next, Hai Rui remained silent. From beginning to end, there was only those words, forcing Feng Bao to leave.
Return to the palace and resume life.
…
Qianqing Palace.
Jiajing was reading the report from Jin Yiwei, which recorded Hai Rui's whereabouts since he entered the capital. Although his every move every day was not shown in detail, most of the activities were under the surveillance of Jin Yiwei.
The records on several pages caught Jiajing's attention.
"On December 27, the 39th year of Jiajing's reign, Hai Rui received an urgent report from the Ministry of Household Affairs and went to the Tongzhou Army Grain Depot to unload grain. On the 28th, he took the grain to Daxing for disaster relief."
"On the seventh day of the second lunar month of the 40th year of Jiajing, the canal opened for sailing. Hai Rui sent his mother and his wife to take the boat south;"
"Since July of the 39th year of Jiajing's reign, Hai Rui has not visited any official's home, nor has he interacted with any official, except for his work at the Ministry of Household Affairs in Daxing."
Combined with Hai Rui's local achievements before entering Beijing, Jiajing had to admit that this was a standard upright official, and he was also a direct minister and a lonely minister!
It's just that he was extremely suspicious, and combined with Yu Jing's appearance, he felt something was wrong.
How could it be such a coincidence that Hai Rui, who had just been sent to the hospital, was asked to obtain the true scriptures of Qianqiu and seek peace and security for all eternity?
Could it be that they colluded with each other, one to submit a memorial, and the other to unveil the emperor's imperial list, just to destroy the majesty of this ninety-five-year-old man?
At this moment, the chamberlain announced: "Long live my Lord, Master Lan wants to see you!"
Jiajing immediately said: "Let him in!"
After a while, Lan Daoxing came in front of him, bowed his head and saluted: "Your Majesty!"
Jiajing regained his former indifference: "Lan Shenxian, I have been waiting for you for a long time..."
Lan Daoxing's face turned red and he hurriedly said: "My cultivation is shallow, so I would never dare to be called an immortal by Your Majesty!"
Jiajing was noncommittal and asked the question he was most concerned about: "How is Fairy Yujing?"
Lan Daoxing said in a deep voice: "It does have divine power, and it has the power to soothe the yin energy and transcend the suffering."
Compared with Guanyin Bodhisattva, who is well known to everyone, Yujing is not famous. He claims to be a disciple of Zhenwu, so of course he must be identified.
After repeated confirmations from the three Zhengdao Fulu sects, this person indeed had immortal cultivation and even a pure heavenly aura. They were all overjoyed and wished they could climb up to him and get in touch with their long-lost ancestor.
"It seems that the Immortal Family is in the dust, and the Shinto has finally recovered!"
Jiajing thought about the land of mountain gods, dragon gods and fairies appearing one after another, and his heart became eager. However, when he thought that he only had less than ten years to live, a desolate look flashed in his eyes.
The gathering of three flowers at the top is an illusion, and the clouds flying under his feet are not real. But what he is doing now is not for the sake of immortality but for the underworld...
In any case, Jiajing no longer doubts the motives of the visitor, and wants to retrieve the Qianqiu Sutra from Zhenwu.
"Back off!"
Since Lan Daoxing was no longer the Blue Immortal, after he was immediately sent away, Jiajing stood up and walked around, turned around a few times, calmed down, went to the eucalyptus, picked up "Public Security Manual", and opened it again.
Last night, he didn't even finish reading the first chapter of this memorial, "The King's Way Is Unjust", and smashed it directly to the ground. Fortunately, he didn't throw it away. Now he must read it completely.
But even though he was mentally prepared, Jiajing's face still darkened visibly, and he was so angry that his liver ached.
Although Hai Rui's words were not gorgeous, they were extremely poignant.
The memorial does not fully agree with Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty. There are still criticisms because the Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty did not respect Confucius and Mencius and advocated the ways of Huang and Lao.
We still regard Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty as a virtuous king, because Emperor Wen had the beauty of being close to the people, the virtues of kindness, forgiveness, courtesy and thrift, taking the people's hearts as his heart, and recuperating with the people.
However, Jiajing did not go to court for twenty years, and the euphemistic name was to rule by doing nothing. In fact, it was a massive construction project, setting up hundreds of officials like domestic slaves, treating the national treasury as private property, using the heart of one person to win the hearts of all people, and doing nothing for the people.
The final conclusion is that even though Emperor Wen was a good man, he still had the disadvantages of abolishing the government, and the current emperor is even worse than Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty!
Kill your heart! Kill your heart!
Historically, although Jiajing pardoned Hai Rui, the "Ming Dynasty Record" deleted the parts of "Public Security Shu" that discussed the superiority with Emperor Han Wen, which can clearly explain which parts of the defense were breached.
At this time, Jiajing also had the urge to delete all these contents. After taking a few deep breaths, he read the second chapter "Unclear Official Responsibilities".
He originally thought this episode would be easier, since he was not scolding himself after all, but as he watched, his hands still started to tremble slightly.
Because Hai Rui scolded all the officials for being sycophantic, but still made it clear that this trend was caused by Jiajing.
All the officials saw the consequences of the ministers who had advised him before, and those who spoke out had no good consequences. Who would be willing to take this risk? This is really contrary to human nature!
However, Hai Rui believes that Mencius said that the moral standard of officials is different from that of ordinary people. As an official, you must sacrifice your own consciousness!
Historically, this section of the "Records of the Ming Dynasty" has also been abridged, with several key points deleted, turning it into a complete scolding of officials, used to evade the emperor's responsibility...
Jiajing's eyes flashed, and he once again had the idea of deleting it, and continued to look behind him.
The third part is the specific corrective measures. To sum up, there are no more than sixteen words:
Be diligent in government affairs, save money, open up your voice, and put the people first.
Compared to the shocking statements above, there is nothing surprising about these.
But when it comes to governing a country, there just isn’t any fancy ideas.
What is the royal way has been reflected in all dynasties. If you are willing to learn, you can learn it naturally. If you are not willing to do it, no matter how much you say, it is useless.
Of course, with the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, it is impossible to turn the tide just by following this method. Reform is needed to save the world...
This means that no one is perfect, and Hai Rui's abilities are also limited. If we compare him with Zhang Juzheng later, the gap in his vision and structure of the political situation is clear at a glance, but it does not affect Hai Rui's evaluation.
There are some views in later generations that characterize Hai Rui as a talker because he was inferior to Zhang Juzheng in government affairs. This is really unreasonable. Hai Rui has both the ability to govern the local area and the courage to directly remonstrate with the central government. He is undoubtedly a capable minister.
, the emergence of "Public Security Shu" is even more worthy of "an eternal cause and an immortal event."
"It's no wonder that the Immortal Family values it..."
At this time, Jiajing read the memorial in its entirety. After getting angry and calming down, he had to admit that this little sixth-grade chief indeed had an awe-inspiring righteousness that dared to be the first in the world.
It is not nonsense to say that with its uprightness, it can suppress the evil thoughts of the resentful souls in the city of vain death.
It would be nice if the person you were scolding wasn’t yourself...
Jiajing sighed silently.
By some strange coincidence, I picked up "Public Security" and read it again.
Then he turned to the situation of the Guanzhong earthquake. After reading through it, he finally fell into a long silence.
Is he, the king and father of all peoples, really as unqualified as the memorial said, and the world has despised him for a long time?
When Lu Fang walked into the palace, what she saw was this scene, and she called softly: "Master!"
Jiajing came back to his senses, pressed his palms, and his expression returned to normal: "How?"
Lu Fang also felt extremely troubled after hearing what Feng Bao said, but after experiencing being suspected, she had to honestly report Hai Rui's reaction.
After hearing this, Jiajing suddenly raised his eyebrows with a strange expression: "I gave him a chance, but he didn't want to. Do you still want me to beg him?"
Lu Fang could only say in a low voice: "This man has renounced his father and the court. It is not worthy for the master to be angry for him!"
If there was no Yujing, even if he didn't kill Hai Rui, he would just ignore him.
Moreover, if these direct ministers are used well, they can deal with those corrupt officials and officials. They will move forward in an indomitable and invincible way, leaving it to the next emperor. King Yu has a soft temperament, so he is suitable for use...
But now, the god's choice has forced him into a corner.
Hai Rui's righteousness can retrieve the true scriptures and save the souls of the dead. However, this man is disdainful of Xuanxu. Even if he is forced to do so by life and death, he will ignore it, let alone the temptation of glory and wealth...
What to do?
"Master, take care of your dragon body!"
Seeing that this man's face turned pale and his body was trembling slightly, Lu Fang felt heartbroken and summoned up the courage to say: "When Hai Rui was teaching, he was known as Hai Bizhu. If he can become an official in the Household Department, he has won the Hu Department."
Tang’s appreciation…”
"Hu Ruzhen!"
Jiajing's eyes lit up, and he finally thought of Hu Zongxian, who had also disobeyed his superiors and was sent to Jizhen to inspect the nine sides.
At this time, even if he complained bitterly, it was difficult for Hai Rui to convince him to take up the important task entrusted by the gods. However, could Hu Zongxian be persuaded?
"They are all loyal ministers and heroes..."
"Then let the hero persuade the hero! Let the hero persuade the hero!"
With this thought, Jiajing felt relieved as if the clouds were clearing and the sun appeared. After a little hesitation, he made another decision.
The cabinet can no longer be so incompetent...
In this turn of events, the incompetence of Ge Lao Lu Ben really disappointed Jiajing.
Yan Song and Xu Jie each had their own shortcomings, but at least they had the courage to do their jobs and were able to deal with changes when they encountered them. Lu Ben's submissiveness really could not support the responsibility of commanding hundreds of officials.
The promises made back then must eventually be fulfilled. With the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, only Hu Zongxian can take on the important task of reviving the crisis and turning things around...
"Recall Hu Ruzhen, become the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and become the Grand Scholar of Huagaidian!"
Since then.
Several years have passed since the fall of Yan Song, and the Ming Dynasty finally has a new head of officials, the chief minister of the cabinet!