amaotonovel Chapter 1110 The Holy See Envoy
Chapter 1110 The Holy See Envoy
Chapter 1110 The Holy See Envoy
Groups such as gossips and grandmas have been walking on the edge of secular life and the law for years, doing unscrupulous things under the cover of "matchmaking" and "worshiping gods".
If they met someone else, they could still make trouble. But since these people have alarmed Lao Zhu, then naturally, they are doomed to have a bad ending.
In the face of absolute strength, no matter how unreasonable or mean, it is meaningless. For example, Wang Po, who was Ximen Qing's pimp, had to be beheaded even if she met Wu Song, who was strong enough to fight a tiger.
For figures like Zhu Su and Liu Sanwu who have already played an important role in Confucianism, it is even easier to deal with these black sheep hiding in the shadows of the world: they hold the greatest power of interpretation of the world, and even have the ability to partially determine the rules of the world.
Expose the conspiracy behind these gossips and city sluts to the public and label them as criminals, and these people will naturally have no place to hide.
Liu Sanwu seemed to be thinking about something, and said, "The Master said: If the name is not right, then the words will not flow; if the words are not flowing, then the affairs will not be accomplished; if the affairs are not accomplished, then the rites and music will not flourish; if the rites and music are not flourishing, then the punishments will not be appropriate; if the punishments are not appropriate, then the people will not know what to do."
"So a gentleman's name must be able to be spoken, and his words must be able to be put into practice. Your Highness's words have taught me a lesson."
After saying that, he bowed to Zhu Su.
Zhu Su waved his hand, indicating that Liu Sanwu did not need to perform such a grand ceremony. Then he said, "As for how to publicize this matter to the people, I think we can learn from the army."
"A few years ago, the military implemented a reform that redefined the duties of military supervisors. I believe you have heard of this, Mr. Liu?"
"I have indeed heard of it." Liu Sanwu's expression suddenly looked a little strange, but he still nodded.
The military reform was one of the major measures that the current Emperor Yiwen was determined to promote when he was the crown prince. The most important point was to redefine the duties of the civil servants who supervised the army, and clearly stipulate that the supervisors should not interfere with the command of the army. However, they should bear the primary responsibility for the morale, logistics, ideology, politics and education of the soldiers in the army. It is similar to the role of instructors in later generations.
At that time, in order to try out the new military system, the Crown Prince Zhu Xiongying personally went to the Daning Army to serve as a military supervisor, and achieved very fruitful results. After that, the new military system was implemented throughout the Ming Army.
The positions vacated by these people who were exiled to the north were filled by the military supervisors who were transferred to the army a few years ago. And judging from the behavior of Emperor Yiwen since he ascended the throne, the court will pay more and more attention to practical affairs. And these civil servants who have experience as military supervisors in the army will inevitably become an important new force in the court in the future.
"There is a lot to learn from what these military supervisors have done in the army. You know, most of the soldiers in the army are illiterate, and many of them only know how to serve as soldiers and eat food, and use their lives to fight for wealth and glory. As for the righteousness of the country, they know nothing about it."
"And those military supervisors have taken many measures to educate the soldiers, which has actually been quite effective... The same is true for us to eliminate evil for the people. First, we need to let the people know what is evil and what is evil. As long as the people are not deceived and provide shelter for those bad apples, those people will naturally have nowhere to hide."
"Most soldiers are illiterate, and the same is true for the people. The means of preaching to the soldiers should be down-to-earth, and the same is true for the people. We can follow the military's practice and use entertainment as a means to spread the evil deeds of gossips through storytelling, opera, etc. At the same time, we can compile catchy slogans and nursery rhymes and teach them to be sung in the countryside. We can also distribute slogans in towns and villages, so that the people can see them every day. Even if they can't read, they should remember them every day. Over time, these things will be carefully observed."
"The words of the sage are profound and difficult to understand. It is difficult to achieve results if you talk to the people about them. In my opinion, the sages educate the world in order to let the people know the truth. It is a good thing to let the sages' truth come from the people and go to the people."
"Yes, yes..." Facing Zhu Su's words, Liu Sanwu could only nod awkwardly. He knew that this was an excuse for His Royal Highness the King of Zhou to remind him. When he went to the countryside to enlighten the people, he was full of idioms and sages' scriptures... In the end, few people came to listen, and he was beaten up by the villagers of Liujia Village.
There is no order of learning, the one who is more accomplished is the teacher. Even before the setbacks in the past, Liu Sanwu was still a head shorter than this powerful prince who created new learning and had great military exploits. After all, in terms of knowledge, reputation, and achievements, there are not many people who can stand up to His Royal Highness the King of Zhou.
Moreover, Liu Sanwu was now banished from the capital and was on the verge of disgrace. He was wholeheartedly trying to align himself with the two new school thinkers, Zhu Su and Song Lian, in order to restore his reputation in the academic world.
Therefore, there is not much dissatisfaction in my heart.
If someone else had persuaded him to teach these saintly principles to the people in plain language, Liu Sanwu would have spit in his face:
People at that time believed that the profound meaning of the sage's words was contained in every sentence, and that the universe was contained in every sentence, and that it was not allowed to be interpreted arbitrarily in vernacular Chinese. It could only be "annotated", so there is a saying that "read a book a hundred times, and its meaning will become clear by itself", which is to let students figure out the words of the sage and comprehend the profound meaning of the sage's words by themselves. If you use vernacular Chinese to interpret it one-sidedly, you will definitely be criticized.
However, since it was the intention of the King of Zhou who created the new school, then it is naturally another matter. The words of the King of Zhou must have a deep meaning. He probably thought that the people might not be able to understand the profound meaning of the sage's words, so he wanted to simplify it and choose the most simple principles to tell the people... It is enough for the people to know these most simple principles.
Liu Sanwu thought so.
Although Zhu Su did not think so much, with his current reputation, there would be great scholars who would debate for him.
After receiving Zhu Su's advice, Liu Sanwu regrouped and went to Liujia Village to clean up the issue of the three aunts and six aunts. He did not have another conflict with the villagers of Liujia Village, but followed Zhu Su's advice and first preached the harm of the three aunts and six aunts in Liujia Village, and decisively defined what Zhang the matchmaker did, telling the villagers that this was not to promote marriage, but to buy and sell people and rob people of their wealth, which was an unforgivable evil.
After the matter was determined, the Shuntian Prefecture's constables were dispatched to investigate the matter thoroughly and soon arrested Zhang the Matchmaker and others. In fact, once the determination was made, Liu Caizhu and others were scared and almost personally offered Zhang the Matchmaker and quickly vomited out all the Li family's young lady and land.
Later, Shuntian Prefecture followed the clues and found out many illegal things that matchmaker Zhang had done. They also punished many powerful landlords who bullied men and women in Shuntian Prefecture. Even the rich man Liu was punished together.
Old Zhu has been hanging around Shuntian Prefecture these days. This matter has caused a lot of uproar among the people and even reached Old Zhu's ears.
After hearing this, Old Zhu was furious and said:
"Investigate! Investigate thoroughly! We need the full cooperation of local officials and Shuntian Prefecture! All prefectures, counties, local farm grain managers, and military garrisons in various places must cooperate to catch those old and pious women who are causing trouble in the local area!"
"Those who have committed numerous crimes and are responsible for the lives of others will be executed immediately to serve as a warning to others! As for the others, we will also send them into exile or banish them to other countries."
"Anyone who dares to harm the people must pay the price! Even if there is an amnesty, I will never forgive them!"
The emperor spoke, the government took strong measures, and with the propaganda of Liu Sanwu and others and Confucian scholars, the people gradually began to believe that these gossipy old ladies were not good people.
At this time, the second imperial examination in Yingtian Prefecture, which was specially designed to select teachers to go north, had also ended. Several Jinshi from Shuntian also came to Shuntian to support the construction of the academy. When they learned about this grand feat, they immediately joined in with great enthusiasm.
These people had just "won" the dispute between the north and the south, and as northerners, they had gained power in the court. Now was the time to show their talents. They were all locals, and were well-known for their literary talents, so they were more likely to gain the trust of the villagers.
At this time, they also called on their friends to join the actions of the court and Liu Sanwu and others, and immediately expanded the trend of changing customs to the greatest extent. This matter spread to Yingtian and also received unanimous support from the court.
Among them, cabinet minister Yang Shiqi and university scholar Huang Guan were extremely supportive of this. In his early years, Yang Shiqi suffered from gossips from gossipers. His mother was forced to remarry into the Luo family, and Yang Shiqi had to be given the surname "Luo" and was not allowed to worship his ancestors until he became an adult. Huang Guan's experience was similar. In his early years, he followed his remarried mother into the Xu family and was named "Xu Guan". He suffered a lot. Later, he resumed his surname Huang.
Therefore, Emperor Yiwen Zhu Biao followed the will of heaven and added two more policies, "changing customs and habits" and "cracking down on gangs and eliminating evil", to his new dynasty's elegant policies, and promoted them together.
Confucian scholars showed great enthusiasm for this righteous action. Under their promotion, the customs of the people gradually began to change completely. Many city foxes, swindlers, hooligans, and gossips were arrested and brought to justice, beheaded, or sent to Annan, Liaodong and other border areas.
The most suitable fate for these evil people who do not do their job is to be sent to the frontier to do hard labor.
After he mentioned Liu Sanwu, Zhu Su did not continue to get involved in these things. The few evil spirits in the folk were actually just trivial matters for the Ming Dynasty at that time.
Confucian scholars are the class that controls public opinion in this era. As long as they unite as one, they can do a good job in changing customs and habits.
During these days, Zhu Su has been spending all his time accompanying his brothers and younger brothers. The reason is simple: after the winter, the brothers will go their separate ways and return to their fiefdoms.
Zhu brothers were enfeoffed in different places, for example, Zhu Di was in the western grasslands, Zhu Chong was in Yilibali, and Zhu Zhen, the King of Chu, was in Yingzhou and Ryukyu. Even Zhu Su himself wanted to open up Fengmingzhou, which was vast, and it was expected that many of Zhu's children would be enfeoffed in Fengmingzhou in the future.
Zhu Su, the most capable elder brother, took on the responsibility of paving the way for later generations and leading them.
Apart from the other brothers, Zhu Su had always had a deep affection for his elder brothers Zhu Chong, Zhu Gang, and Zhu Di. The brothers were almost counting the days to be together here. After they parted next year, they didn't know when they would meet again.
Today, they were outing outside Shuntian Prefecture. At this time, Shuntian was snowing heavily. The brothers were all used to fighting and were all in their prime, so they were not afraid of the snow. After hunting in the snow for a while, the four of them returned to the city, but in the city, they encountered a group of prisoners being paraded through the streets.
"Huh?" Zhu Su was sharp-eyed and saw that the prisoners in one of the prison cars looked different from the others. He couldn't help but wonder. Zhu Gang, who was standing next to Zhu Su, heard the voice, looked at the prison car team, and then turned to Zhu Su and asked, "Old Five, what's wrong?"
"Is something wrong?"
"The person in that prison car seems to be a barbarian?" Zhu Su raised his whip, pointed at the prison car, and asked in confusion.
Most of the prisoners who were paraded through the streets recently were gossips, city foxes, gangsters and the like from the vicinity of Shuntian Prefecture. At this time, changing customs and habits had become a trend in Shuntian Prefecture, and the people had been incited to hate these black sheep among the people. Therefore, most of these prisoners had rotten eggs, rotten vegetable leaves and other things stuck on their bodies and faces, so their faces could not be seen clearly.
There were many Semu people in the Ming Dynasty, so it was not uncommon to see a Semu prisoner. However, this man was obviously wearing strange clothes, and even had a rather eye-catching cross hanging on his chest. It was obvious at a glance that he was not a native of the Ming Dynasty.
At this time, the guards who were escorting the prisoner carriage also saw Zhu Su and his party coming from the side road, and hurriedly dismounted and came to greet them. Zhu Su casually asked, "Why is there a foreigner among these prisoners?"
The officer was stunned for a moment, then he looked in the direction Zhu Su pointed, and then he suddenly realized, "Oh, Your Highness, that fellow is a famous liar. He does nothing but wander around the towns and villages, trying to trick people into believing in his so-called gods."
"A few days ago, this guy broke into the Zhenwu Temple and stole incense money. He was caught by the people and reported to the government. So he was locked up here and paraded through the streets for public display."
"Stealing incense money?" Zhu Su laughed in surprise. After listening to the first half, he guessed that this man might be a foreign missionary coming from the West.
Since they were caught red-handed, they would be dealt with according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty. Although there were few missionaries in the Ming Dynasty, there were still some. There was nothing special to do. Zhu Su waved his hand, signaling the officer to continue the parade. The officer bowed to Zhu Su and his men again, then returned to his team and urged the parade team to continue.
Unexpectedly, the barbarian saw Zhu Su and his companions here. He saw that Zhu Su and his companions were riding tall horses and wearing extraordinary clothes, and the officers escorting them were very respectful to Zhu Su and his companions. So he guessed that they must be some important figures of the Ming Dynasty.
“My lord! My lord! I am a messenger of God from the Holy See. I am not a criminal… I am going to Yingtian to meet the Emperor of your country. Tell these people to let me go, my lord!”
The barbarian actually started yelling at Zhu Su and his group.
(End of this chapter)