If the emperor consults his opinion, it is nothing more than asking him to recommend the person he likes, but he puts the pressure on him.
As the name suggests, you need both a good reputation and benefits.
As expected, the person the emperor wanted to join the cabinet was Zhu Mou, the Minister of Civil Affairs.
Because of his royal family status, public opinion inside and outside the court was raging, and it could be said that there were constant controversies.
There is no such thing, because in the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, there has not been a single prime minister who was born in a clan. After all, the release of clan officials as officials only started in the Wanli period.
Zhao Shu sighed in his heart and could only bite the bullet and said: "I am stupid, but I know that in the government and the public, only Zhu Mou, the Minister of Civil Affairs, is smart, capable and has noble character. He is the best candidate."
When the emperor heard this, he laughed and said, "I thought so too."
"Sir, you and I really coincide with each other!"
After that, it was finally decided that Zhu Mou would join the cabinet.
The monarch and his ministers were enjoying themselves for a while, which was quite like the atmosphere of the past.
At this time, Zhao Shu suddenly waved his hands to several eunuchs on the side. The emperor was surprised and asked Liu Afu to give instructions.
At this time, there were only three people within a few feet.
"The old minister is old and frail, so I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to hold a big position."
Zhao Shu stood up and held up his hands, showing a look of exhaustion on his face.
Zhu Yixi said without hesitation: "No."
"The imperial court cannot do without sir."
Zhao Shu let out a long sigh: "I am also willing to do my part for Shaowu's prosperous age, but now I am old and frail, my teeth have become loose, and my eyesight is not as good as before."
"Now I can't even sit on a chair for more than an hour, otherwise my back will hurt and it will be difficult to sleep. The old god has seen the imperial doctor and the pressure of speaking is too heavy..."
"My parents have been dead for many years, and I don't know what the grave is like or how many weeds there are..."
Seeing the sadness he said, Zhu Yixi was stunned and looked at Liu Afu beside him.
The latter nodded slightly, indicating that he had heard the news.
Zhu Yixi opened her mouth at this time, wanting to persuade, but she didn't know how to say it.
As the first literati of the Shaowu Dynasty, he not only served as the first assistant for more than ten years, but was also awarded the title of Duke of Fou, and inherited the title of World Lord. It can be said that he is very prosperous.
"gentlemen--"
Zhu Yixi said in a deep voice, unknowingly with a solemn tone.
"The Ming Dynasty cannot live without you."
"No, Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty can survive without anyone, but it cannot live without you."
Zhao Shu shook his head, his eyes shining brightly: "Back then, the old minister just wanted to find a way out and protect the Sun family's young and old. He never thought that under the protection of his ancestors, the old events of Guangwu would happen again."
"The Ming Dynasty will continue for three hundred years, and I will die without regrets."
"That's all."
Zhu Yixi knew that he was stubborn in his bones and could not be persuaded, so he could only sigh: "At least it will take Shaowu's twelve years, right?"
"Old minister, I understand." Zhao Shu nodded slightly.
At this time, the emperor showed a reluctant smile: "Although I have become an official, I cannot just resign as the president of the Ming History Museum. This is specially reserved for you."
"Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."
Zhao Shu instantly felt a little more happy.
Then the two chatted about some old things again, and they were filled with emotion as they talked about it.
After he retreated, Zhu Yixi sighed deeply and said nothing.
One year in Hanzhong, two years in the Huguang shogunate, and 12 years in Shaowu, a total of fifteen years. This period can be said to be a wonderful period and effective in governing the rear.
In a way, this is the end of an era.
Of course, from this perspective, the political events and pressures of the feudal era were very serious in damaging people's spirits.
Zhao Shu is in his early sixties, so his hair must be gray and he is getting old.
It’s no wonder that in the early Ming Dynasty, the age for becoming an official was reduced to sixty. With the increase in population, the development of productivity, and the increasing pressure and government affairs, it was simply unreasonable to reach the age of seventy.
Of course, becoming an official at sixty is, to a certain extent, a renewal of the officialdom.
Running water does not rot.
And, more importantly, this is a sure-fire skill for civil servants. Once the emperor no longer wants to use it, he will have to quit as long as someone impeaches him about his age.
Now it seems that Wang Yingxiong and Lu Daqi will not be used for long.
Of course, things like phase change must be done step by step. If, like Chongzhen, he was appointed chief minister in 17 years and 19 years, the longest would only be four years, and the shortest would only be one or two months.
This is chaos.
From a historical perspective, compared to the last emperors of other dynasties, Chongzhen's power can be said to be the greatest.
Killing officials is like killing dogs, and he does not indulge in military commanders. This is unimaginable in other courts.
As for Emperor Yuan Shun at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he wanted to kill Wang Baobao and went back and forth for more than ten years, but there was nothing he could do. In the end, he had to rely on him.
It was even more terrible at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Government orders could not leave the Forbidden City, the regent was forced to abdicate in favor of someone more powerful, and the authority of the central government was lost.
Although the conversation between the two was relatively hidden, the news that Zhao Shu was about to retire was still spread, and the news about the Ming History Museum was immediately covered up.
There was an endless stream of people going to the Duke's Mansion to seek an audience.
The queen even left the palace in person to visit his body.
The most eye-catching thing was the prince's appearance.
As the representative of the emperor, the prince was neatly dressed and well-manned. He came with a huge guard of rituals, music and ceremonials, and came to express his condolences.
At this time, the civil and military officials realized that the prince's sense of presence in the past two years was actually too weak.
It's no wonder that everyone doesn't adapt to it.
During the Jiajing period, the crown prince's position was undecided for twenty years; during the Wanli period, there were countless battles.
In the past hundred years, although the crown prince always succumbed to the eldest son inheritance system in the end, the process can be described as exciting.
But now, although the prince lives in the East Palace, all the assistant ministers are served by important ministers of the cabinet. They are in name only, and there are almost no real ministers.
Moreover, the prince still studies with many princes. He looks no different from ordinary princes, low-key and reserved.
On the contrary, as the eldest prince of King Qin, he has a strong sense of presence.
At the beginning of the year, among the concubines who were engaged, there was actually a Mongolian, which caused an uproar in the government and the public.
Officialdom is noncommittal.
Because the marriage between the King of Qin and a Mongolian woman could not threaten the crown prince's position.
Besides, didn't the first Qin king also marry the Mongols? This is the tradition of the old Zhu family.
But the people believe that this is because the royal bloodline has been tarnished.
"The prince is indeed spiritual, spiritual and intelligent, and he is worthy of being a prince——"
"I also heard that the prince is both civil and military, and can ride a horse and shoot arrows——"
All the civil and military officials admired and were extremely happy for the prince's appearance.
However, with the engagement of King Qin, the prince, now thirteen years old, has to choose a concubine.
In this way, the nobles in Beijing immediately set off a trend of entering the palace.
The ladies took their budding daughters to the palace to see the queen, and from time to time they would take their daughters out for a walk. The meaning of this is self-evident.
Sun Xueniang was a keen observer of the situation. On the surface, she was very indifferent to these girls, but she kept them in mind quietly and selected a few superior ones of similar age.
She even had to pick out a few scrolls and prepare them for the emperor to choose from.
As a result, his sister Sun Damiang immediately started flipping through the picture album when she saw it. She muttered at the end: "How come these are all people with outstanding virtues?"
"Although the crown prince must be chosen for her virtue, she must also have some good looks." Sun Xueniang poked her head with her green finger and said speechlessly.
"No, I mean these girls are so beautiful, and the painter is so beautiful. If they were shown to the emperor, wouldn't they be heart-warming?"
Sun Damiang drove away the maids and then spoke unscrupulously.
"Who in the world doesn't know that the emperor is lustful? Even Mongolian women are not spared..."
"Don't talk nonsense." Sun Xueniang refuted in a low voice: "This is for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, so I accepted the Mongolian concubine."
"I remember the emperor once said to me that none of the princes can escape, they all have concubines, and they will even marry princesses in the future!"
As she said this, she unknowingly threw the picture album into a corner.
"The prince too?" Sun Damiang was shocked and jumped up: "Then if a prince is born, wouldn't it be——"
"In this matter, let's take it one step at a time!"
The queen sighed: "For this Ming Dynasty, what does the prince mean?"
"Alas!" Sun Damiang also felt sad: "There are so many Han people who are not looking for us, so we have to find a Tatar..."
The liveliness of the capital city is exactly the opposite of that of the people.
The summer harvest is over. Although Fujian paid its taxes at the end of June, second only to Guangdong and Guangxi, it is now bustling.
However, there are twenty-five provinces in the world, and each provincial government is different, and the difficulty of governing them is also different.
In the past, Fujian's biggest difficulty was its population.
Seven mountains, two rivers and one farmland. The long-term peace has caused Fujian's population to explode. Moreover, it has not experienced the wars and famines during the Chongzhen period, and its population has increased dramatically.
However, with the opening of Taiwan Province, the whole of Fujian was equivalent to an extra pouring point. In just a few years, hundreds of thousands of people immigrated.
Unfortunately, before Fujian could breathe a sigh of relief, they received instructions from the new governor: crack down on obscene worshipers.
Fornication means indulgence, excessiveness, excessiveness, loss of restraint, and illegality.
In short, obscene sacrifices refer to sacrifices that are not in accordance with the etiquette system, improper sacrifices, and indiscriminate sacrifices.
"Book of Rites" says: "Sacrificing something other than the object of sacrifice is called obscene sacrifice, and obscene sacrifice brings no blessing."
For example, after the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, a large number of prefectures and counties in Hebei still had temples dedicated to Anlu Mountain. This was naturally against the rules. However, after the mid-Tang Dynasty, the court was weak and could not control it at all.
In the whole world, the most popular place where obscene worship is prevalent is in Fujian.
Therefore, in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang built Chenghuang temples in various counties in order to establish the official sacrifice, thereby attracting incense and stabilizing his rule.
There was no way, the Ming Dynasty had its roots in the Red Scarf Army and the White Lotus Sect, so it was extremely serious about obscene worship.
The proliferation of obscene worship in Fujian has been documented in history books. For example, during the Zhengtong period of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Tingju, the magistrate of Shunde County, destroyed 800 temples in Longjiang alone.
The seriousness of it is revealed in the memorials from various prefectures and counties.
Some people killed hundreds of cattle in one night in order to offer sacrifices, endangering agricultural production; some even bought and sold slaves, or stole people and killed them to sacrifice to the gods.
In private, human organs are boiled, fried, and so on.
The key is that Fujian's spirit of good ghosts and gods is too widespread.
For example, if there is a flood on a certain day and a female corpse hangs on a tree, someone will build a temple in three or two days, the so-called Shui Niang Niang Temple; if a fox dies at the intersection, someone will build a temple for it the next day.
Can protect you from getting lost...
"Xiamen Chronicles" of the Qing Dynasty recorded: "Evil monsters mingled with each other, stone lions were speechless, big trees were erected for worship for no reason, puppets were scattered, ancient coffins hissed in the wind, people suspected of gods and immortals, sang in harmony, wine, meat and paper, men and women
Crazy trend."
Among them, there was even a man named Hu Tianbao, the Rabbit God, who stole Yue Lao's business. He specialized in men's goodwill and was so popular that it was rumored among the people that Jiangnan has beautiful women and Fujian has good men.
There are rumors in Fujian that after hearing about the so-called Hu Tianbao in Fujian in the secret box, the emperor was furious and ordered the whole province of Fujian to crack down on obscene worship.
The entire cabinet was also furious.
Wouldn’t this affect the growth of Dingkou?
The officialdom in Fujian is really a pile of waste. The Four Books and Five Classics have been pulled out?
To put it bluntly, the main reason why the emperor and the civil servants jointly cracked down on obscenity and worship in the court was the unity of interests.
Confucianism unanimously controls the world's sacrifices and etiquette, and has turned a blind eye to obscene sacrifices for thousands of years. It is a political achievement to crack down on obscene sacrifices; at the same time, the emperor saw the expansion of the Fujian clan's strength from the obscene sacrifices.
The crackdown on obscene worship is also, to a certain extent, a crackdown on clan power in Fujian.
Although Zhu Yixi recognized the protective and governance role of clan power for ordinary people, the clans in Fujian went too far.
If you stretch your hand too far, it will naturally strike you.
This kind of top-down government order was a huge shock to Fujian officialdom.
Fan Yiheng, the governor of Fujian, was so angry that he wrote directly to the prefects in handwriting, expressing his determination to crack down on obscene worship:
"If necessary, patrol battalions in each county will also be mobilized; if there are stupid people who resist, ignore them and directly suppress them..."
"If the wealthy gentry and merchants block it, they will directly lock it up and hand it over to Fuzhou..."
"If the patrol camp fails, the Fuzhou garrison in Beijing will also be dispatched——"
At this time, the magistrate of Zhangzhou was Zheng Sen from Nan'an, Quanzhou.
In just ten years, he climbed to the position of prefect, which shocked the world.
After arriving in Zhangzhou Prefecture, due to similar customs and similar languages, he felt at ease until he received a handwritten letter from Governor Fan Yiheng and was immediately startled:
"Isn't this going to cause civil unrest?"
As a Fujianese, Zheng Sen knows very well that in Fujian, there is almost a temple every 100 steps and a commune every ten miles, and almost every household offers obscene sacrifices.
Even Mazu, who is now widely worshiped, was worshiped in obscene ways at the beginning. Later, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty granted her the title of “Shunji Temple”.
Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty granted her the title of "Mrs. Linghui" and was officially included in the list of official sacrifices.
Therefore, the vast number of obscene priests want to be listed as official priests, and their momentum is endless.
That's what they say, but in the officialdom, the governor is the head of a province, and the prefect must be obedient, otherwise he will not pass the examination.
"Fujian people all worship ghosts and gods for personal gain. They seek wealth, sex, gambling, children, peace, and the list goes on."
At this time, the importance of staff becomes apparent.
One of them said: "The only thing that is not tolerated by the people and disliked by the officialdom is the Rabbit God——"