"This incident should be a typical example, a warning to all the vassals everywhere, and a warning to all my people!"
Emperor Chongzhen's words meant that he wanted to make trouble in a big way so that everyone would know about it and take a warning!
Naturally, He Fengsheng and others had no objection to this. They were happy to see that they were punishing King Lu and frightening other vassal kings.
Just like that, after this imperial meeting, two things were announced to the world.
The first thing is related to the Railway Department, and each province will report the railways to be built and the funds raised, and build as many railways as meet the requirements for building railways.
Generally speaking, the squire provided money and the court contributed efforts to jointly build the railway.
As for the contribution of the imperial court, the main construction force was the railway corps restructured from the local military stations. If the manpower was insufficient, the local government recruited local people to take care of the food, and the food money was provided by the local gentry. Generally speaking, the Railways Department was in charge of railway construction.
, the head of the household department operates the train, and the profits are divided according to the proportion specified in advance.
Of course, the initial railway construction will definitely not be perfect. For example, in places with mountains and rivers, it is more difficult to build. If we don't build it first, we will build those that are easy to build on the plains.
After more experience is gained and the technology matures, we can then consider railway construction in complex terrains such as mountains, rivers and valleys. For this reason, part of the 50% profit from the railway company will be allocated to the Academy of Sciences for subsequent technology research and development.
The second thing announced was the punishment of King Lu. Under the instruction of Emperor Chongzhen, this punishment was made with great fanfare, and even more people knew about it than the first thing.
The vast majority of people, not just ordinary people, but also civil servants and military generals, take great pleasure in this misfortune.
"Yeah, I heard that the people in Wei Hui are all setting off firecrackers!"
"These vassal kings really deserve to be punished. The tombs they built are of a higher standard than Taizu's. This is outrageous! If you ask me, there is no problem at all in directly plotting rebellion!"
"It was also because the emperor thought that they were all sons and grandsons of the dragon, he did not rule it as treason, otherwise he would have been killed directly. Now at least he can save his life and go to Fengyang to retire!"
"No, King Ning back then was killed! This King Lu is already lucky!"
"He deserves it, who asked him to exceed the limit! I really don't know what he was thinking. It's such an obvious thing, and the evidence of the crime is solid, but he dares to openly exceed the limit. Now it's okay, I'm dumbfounded!"
"..."
While they were gloating about their misfortune, they didn't know that Emperor Chongzhen was already waiting there.
When I heard the news about King Lu from everywhere, they all affirmed the court's approach. Everyone was either gloating about the misfortune or filled with righteous indignation. In short, no one thought there was anything wrong with King Lu's punishment for exceeding the limit.
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen once again held a Wenhua Palace meeting of the cabinet and the six ministries and nine ministers. Beforehand, Emperor Chongzhen also asked Wang Chengen to discuss the matter in person.
No, as soon as the meeting began, Emperor Chongzhen said to his ministers: "My lords, there is something to report here in Xichang. It is of great importance, so I have summoned all your lords to discuss the matter!"
When they heard that it was a report from the West Factory, all the civil servants suddenly felt a twitch in their hearts. It was probably not a good thing!
Sure enough, after hearing Emperor Chongzhen's opening remarks, Wang Cheng'en, the eunuch in charge of the ceremonial department and the governor of the West Factory, went out to report: "Long live my lord, King Lu has exceeded the regulations. Everyone in the world said that the court's laws are just. However, the slaves also accepted
When King Lu made a statement, he said that no one person in the world was responsible for overstepping the rules. If he were to be dealt with only by one person, it would be inconsistent with the justice of the court's laws."
"Oh?" Emperor Chongzhen didn't seem to know anything about it in advance. After hearing this, he was quite surprised and immediately shouted: "Who else exceeds the rules? I will never tolerate it!"
Hearing this, all the officials in the Wenhua Palace were dumbfounded!
Why?
Because by this time in the late Ming Dynasty, it was a very common thing for rituals to collapse and music to collapse.
In fact, starting from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, with the development of the economy, those who had money began to think of ways to enjoy themselves. This not only led to the erosion of the social atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty, but also made them ignore the etiquette prescribed by the court.
Little by little, we began to cross over.
For example, the etiquette of clothing exceeded the regulations. Starting from the Hongwu period, the imperial court began to have detailed etiquette regulations on the clothing of officials, civilians, and common people, covering the material, color, and style of clothing from head to toe.
For these etiquette systems, the imperial court also recognized them in the form of law and forced all subjects to strictly implement them: "If you violate the rules, you will be given an official staff of one hundred, and you will be dismissed from office. If you have no official, you will be punished with fifty, and the crime will be punished by the head of the family and the craftsman."
Answer fifty."
As a result, starting from the middle of Ming Dynasty, there were many violations of the prohibition. Later, men even wore Mianqi and women decorated with gold beads. This was an imitation that was unlimited and exceeded the national prohibition.
According to records, during the Chongzhen period, in Wucheng County, Huzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Province, where the commodity economy was highly developed, "wealthy families indulged their servants and kept the same clothes and footwear, and frequently updated them with new ones." The clothing was extremely over-the-top.
In addition, there is also the violation of etiquette in the residence. This time, the most important punishment for King Lu is this.
After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, when building houses, they broke through the constraints in terms of building specifications, styles, decorations, etc., constantly impacting the class restrictions of residences.
According to historical records, in Taikang County, Henan Province, "In the Chenghua period, there were more and more tiled houses, and it was customary to pay tribute to tall buildings, and during the Hongzhi period, dragons flourished." At the same time, in the Shangqiu area, "high buildings and flying pavilions appeared in the clouds, and painted buildings and carved walls were imitated.
Dili."
In Jiangyin County, Jiangsu Province, “after the Chenghua period, the rich lived in royal palaces.” After the Chenghua period in Chaling Prefecture, Hunan, the houses of the wealthy were “compared to the palaces.” It can be seen that the trend of arrogant housing began in the Chenghua period.
Since then, the development of urban and rural housing has become more and more luxurious. By the end of the Jiajing period, the homes of the common people in Nanjing were also "double eaves and animal ridges like official offices, and the gardens were arrogantly designed to resemble princes."
No wonder someone at that time exclaimed: “Today’s elegant sleeping halls, cloisters and terraces, gardens, pavilions, pools and pavilions are all indescribable.”
Therefore, it is said that King Lu would go beyond the rules. This is due to the background of the time, but he is the more excessive kind.
At this time, when Wang Chengen made such a report and magnified this over-the-top matter from King Lu, the senior officials of the Ming Dynasty present were naturally dumbfounded.
Because if we investigate seriously, basically, everyone cannot escape, and there must be more or less violations.
However, the most important thing is that when the emperor punished King Lu for exceeding the rules a few days ago, everyone cheered happily and said that he should be punished for exceeding the rules. King Lu also had his home confiscated and was exiled to Fengyang to see the imperial mausoleum. And then the rest
Is it appropriate to not punish people who exceed the rules and treat them as nothing?
Not to mention other things, like clothes, maybe with a decree, everyone can temporarily change back to the original clothes; but, what should we do if we exceed the regulations on construction and other things? There is no way to change it, and you will be arrested directly!
Then the question arises: Do you accept the violation reported to the emperor by Xichang?
It seems that there is no way to deny it, just like King Lu, it is right there for everyone to see!
If you admit it, you have confirmed that you have exceeded the limit. According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, you will be punished.
As for this punishment, if you are an official, you will need to be dismissed from office. If you are not an official, the punishment of the rod will be light.
Do you recognize it or not?
If it were possible, of course no one would want to admit it!
So what should we do now? This matter was brought up before the emperor, and King Lu punished him severely. People also said that if others punished him instead of punishing him, he would not accept it!
You want to say that King Lu won't be punished, but he has already been punished, and everyone clapped and applauded, saying that the punishment was good and it was deserved!
This is equivalent to closing the door to non-punishment!
Is it possible that he still slaps himself in the mouth and asks the emperor not to punish King Lu?
Even if the emperor agrees, King Lu’s family wealth is sufficient for military supplies. If they are used for fighting on the front line, it is impossible to recover them!
So what to do now?
In addition to being dumbfounded, it seems that there is only dumbfounded!
You shot yourself in the foot, and while you were gloating about King Lu's misfortune, you buried a hole for yourself!
On the throne, Emperor Chongzhen was still furious, and it was obvious that he had no intention of not punishing him.
And this damn eunuch, the Supervisor of Ceremonies, was playing on the ground, telling the emperor the list of those in the capital who had exceeded the regulations.
"Long live my lord, Xichang just did a casual check and found these for the time being." Wang Chengen seemed not to feel the crowd behind him focusing on him at all. He just said, "When I go back, I will let my subordinates do a more thorough investigation."
Check it!"
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen turned around, glanced at the other ministers in the palace, and shouted sternly: "How do you think we should deal with this?"
The group of officials below couldn't help but look at each other in shock after hearing this!
How to deal with it? Should it be dealt with according to the law? This is obviously impossible!
Otherwise, there would be no officials standing in the court, and at least half of the people in the capital would be punished.
The only thing that can be said is one reason!
With this in mind, as the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty and the first civil servant, I had to go out and report to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I have also paid attention to this situation since the incident of King Lu. From what I have seen and heard, I
, I am afraid that this matter of over-regulation is not just mentioned by the princes and father-in-law, it can even be said to be far more than that. Not to mention other places, just in the capital, at least nine of the ten households have more or less over-regulation. The old minister was thinking,
This matter is a bit tricky, I don’t know how to report it, but I didn’t expect the prince to speak up first!”
Good guy, just take away your responsibilities first.
As soon as the other ministers heard his words, they immediately understood the key meaning of his words, which was to guide the people towards the law.
So, one by one, they came out to report to Emperor Chongzhen, saying that this matter of exceeding the regulations was so common nowadays. In short, it was almost impossible to say that everyone exceeded the regulations.
The situation is here, and then they stopped talking. It means, Your Majesty, look at it, so many people have exceeded the limit, what should be done, right?
As long as the laws of the Ming Dynasty are strictly enforced, there will probably be no one to execute them. It will be a repeat of Taizu's time, when the prisoners were interrogated in shackles, because there would be no innocent people!