In the study, Liu Bowen's words made Zhu Zhen look confused.
"Master, no...don't you advocate tolerance?" Lao Liu asked in confusion.
"Why did Your Highness say this?" Liu Bowen asked.
Lao Liu then said that his eldest brother told him about a past incident between his father and Liu Ji.
It is said that in the fourth year of Hongwu, there was a sudden change in the sky. His father wrote a letter asking Liu Ji, who had become an official, and said: "Yuan lost the world because of his tolerance, and I saved him with fierceness. However, the villain likes to be generous, so he slanders. Today there is a change in the sky, sir."
What do you think?'
To put it simply, I summed up the lessons of the Yuan Dynasty and used strong medicine and strict government to save the world. However, the officials liked the leniency of the Yuan Dynasty and were dissatisfied with my harshness. Did I do something wrong now that the sky is abnormal?
Liu Ji wrote in his handwriting and replied: "After the snow and frost, there will be spring. Now that the country's prestige has been established, it is better to use less money and be more generous."
~~
"That's His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. I want to plant a seed of kindness and forgiveness in His Highness's heart." After hearing what King Chu said, Liu Ji couldn't help laughing and said:
"Of course the prince didn't arrange anything for me. This is indeed what I said. Relaxation is the way of civil and military affairs. Combination of leniency and severity is the policy of governing the country. At that time, the emperor had already given strong medicine to establish the country's prestige. The next step should indeed be a little more relaxed, okay.
Let the officials and the people have a chance to breathe, so as not to break the string."
"Oh." Zhu Zhen nodded, thinking that being uneducated is bad, and he didn't even know he was being tricked by his elder brother.
"But the prince did not tell His Majesty that the old minister and His Majesty actually have the same philosophy of governing the country. They both advocate the use of heavy codes in troubled times and the use of strong medicines for serious illnesses. Otherwise, it is impossible to clean up the evils of the former Yuan Dynasty and completely reverse the trend of corruption in the officialdom."
Liu Bowen's eyes flashed and he said:
"Your Highness may not know that at the founding of the People's Republic of China, I took the initiative to ask the emperor to serve as Yushi Zhongcheng. The so-called saying, 'It is said that in the Song Dynasty and Yuan Kuan indulged the world, but now it is appropriate to maintain discipline and discipline', it was actually instilled in the emperor by my teacher.
"You are a noble minister, and if any of the civil and military officials were found to be lawless, I would order the imperial censor to punish and impeach them without any hesitation. In less than a year, hundreds of officials were sent to prison. In short, everyone in the government and the public at that time was afraid of being a teacher. Behind my back
He also called me a 'cruel official'." Liu Bowen said.
"Holy shit, is it true or not?" Zhu Zhen was shocked. He always thought that Lao Liu was an old man who spent all his time in the hospital.
"Can I still lie to you?" Liu Bowen said, trying hard to maintain a dignified image: "At that time, even Li Bin, a relative of the Korean father-in-law, was found to be corrupt and illegal by me, and I asked the crown prince to kill him!"
"Oh, I have an impression of this." Zhu Zhen said, patting his head.
He heard that at that time Li Shanchang secretly begged Liu Bowen to let Li Bin go, but Liu Bowen was not accommodating. Li Shanchang was the Grand Master and the Prime Minister of Zuo. If his own relatives couldn't keep him, where would he save his face?
So Li Shanchang asked Zhu Yuanzhang to suspend the death penalty on the grounds that there was no rain for a long time, so as to save Li Bin's life.
Boss Zhu was still in awe of God. He felt that it was not God's will, but it was not his turn to become the emperor as a beggar. Therefore, Boss Zhu did not dare to make God angry. He asked Liu Bowen if he wanted to do it.
But Liu Bowen said categorically, ‘Kill Li Bin, it will rain’!
Zhu Yuanzhang was still very superstitious about Liu Bowen at that time, so he executed Li Bin.
As a result... it still didn't rain. How could Li Shanchang spare Liu Ji now? He immediately mobilized his party members to impeach Liu Bowen for insisting on killing people, angering God, and demanding that he be killed too, so that God could appease God's anger.
Boss Zhu was also a little angry and stopped protecting him so much. As a result, Liu Bowen was so disgraced that he resigned and went home after his wife passed away.
~~
"Alas, I was watching the sky at night and guessed that it was going to rain." Speaking of this failure, Liu Bowen sighed: "Who would have thought that the prediction was wrong. Alas, it's really like 'I often walk by the river, and my shoes don't get wet.'
.”
"Master, the weather forecast is not accurate, let alone your cold legs." Zhu Zhen said sharply.
"Oh, how do you know the method I predicted?" Liu Bowen was surprised and praised: "Your Highness is indeed born to pass on my mantle."
"Let's get down to business, Master." Zhu Zhen coughed lightly.
"In short, both my master and the emperor advocate the imposition of severe punishments," Liu Bowen said solemnly: "The only difference is that the emperor is much more fierce than me. I looked at the stars back then, and I saw that the Ming Dynasty had thirty years of bad luck."
"Thirty years is the luck of killing?" Zhu Zhen calculated with his fingers. It would be exactly thirty years before the fourth brother finished killing everyone.
But he never told Lao Liu about what happened in the fiftieth year of the founding of the People's Republic of China...
It can be seen that Liu Bowen's divine way is not just making mysteries, but also has two brushes.
"At that time, my teacher felt that if I were allowed to rule the country and use thunderous means to eliminate the evils of the customs, the lenient government would be restored in a year or two." He then heard Liu Bowen say with murderous intent:
"But now I don't think so anymore. I still think too well of these scholar-bureaucrats who came from the Yuan Dynasty. They have not changed at all, and they don't want to change at all. In the Ming Dynasty, they will still do the same thing as the Yuan Dynasty. Don't kill them all.
, the Ming Dynasty will still have to follow the old path of the Yuan Dynasty. If it were me, I would kill for ten or eight years! Cough cough cough..."
"Master, it's Chinese New Year, don't be so angry." Zhu Zhen quickly calmed him down. After Lao Liu had taken a breath, he asked: "Master, didn't you mean local officials? Why are you talking about old officials of the Yuan Dynasty again?
Already?"
"Because they are the same kind of people!" Liu Bowen said solemnly: "Your father can rely on his Huaixi brothers to conquer the world, but he has to rely on civil servants to govern the world. At that time, his foundation was so shallow, where could he get the civil servants?
You have to rely on the scholar-bureaucrats of the Yuan Dynasty? Even your master and I are old ministers of the Yuan Dynasty."
"I know that." Zhu Zhen nodded. This was one of the reasons why his father always distrusted his master.
"It only took the emperor just one year from defeating Zhang Shicheng to conquering the capital of the Yuan Dynasty. It can be said that all the prefectures and counties in the world fell into despair overnight. How many people who were demoted from official positions changed their skins and continued to be Ming Dynasty officials?
Officials? It's better in the imperial court, but it's a very common phenomenon in local areas."
"Yes." Zhu Zhen nodded, understandable. The change of old and new regimes is inevitable.
"When I was at Yushitai, they calmed down for a while. But after I was gone, they all joined Taishi Li's disciples one after another. Relying on his protection, they began to return to their old ways."
Only then did Zhu Zhen understand why his father wanted to kill the local officials first...
These remnants of the previous dynasty are the ones with the least status in politics and the ones who deserve to be cleaned up. If they restrained themselves a little, they might be able to land safely, but they still followed the Yuan Dynasty's routine, dancing, running, and committing corruption.
He is not lenient in taking bribes. I am afraid that if there is another emperor, there will be a big cleanup, right?
King Chu then asked again: "What about the killing?"
"The people behind you can always calm down for a while." Liu Bowen sighed and said: "Well, the key is to establish after breaking, not to break. Decapitation alone cannot solve the problem, but it is absolutely impossible not to decapitate.
"
"I understand, Master." Zhu Zhen nodded slowly.
"But what should be established?" Liu Bowen murmured: "Do you have an answer?"
Zhu Zhen shook his head.
"There's no rush, there's still time, let's think about it carefully." Liu Bowen smiled at him and said, "Before we think clearly, let's fix it for your father."
