amaotonovel Chapter 209 This world has been rotten to the core for a long time.
Chapter 209 This world has been rotten to the core for a long time.
Q: Are the interests of court officials and rural gentry and scholars completely aligned?
A: There is some overlap, but they are not exactly the same.
After Emperor Zhu Chongba decided not to grant scholars any preferential treatment, the biggest losers were the scholars and the gentry who evolved from them, while the interests of the officials were not affected much, and the gentry who evolved from the officials were also not greatly affected.
If Emperor Zhu Chongba were to wage war against Japan, the officials and the gentry who evolved from officials would certainly feel the pinch, but it wouldn't be fatal, much less feel like the collapse of the sky and the sinking of the earth as the gentry who evolved from scholars and pirate groups along the coast did.
Therefore, Magistrate Yang's solution was simple: he would have Emperor Zhu Chongba relinquish some of his interests to win over officials of all ranks in the Ming Dynasty, aligning their interests with those of the court and creating conflict between their interests and those of the coastal gentry.
As for the final outcome, that's beyond the control of Magistrate Yang.
After all, Magistrate Yang hadn't expected that while he was only thinking about how to exploit Annam and Goryeo and take advantage of them, Emperor Zhu Chongba had already gone so far as to want to completely wipe out those short and ugly Japanese.
This gave Magistrate Yang a sense of frustration, as if he were a conservative being ridiculed by radicals for not being radical enough.
This is damning! Shouldn't it be this conservative official mocking the radicals for being too conservative?
You've got the wrong script, you bastard!
……
"He's anxious."
Emperor Zhu Chongba waved the memorial in his hand at Empress Ma and laughed, "Our silly son-in-law is sometimes frighteningly shrewd. With just a little bit of crooked thinking, he can make all the civil and military officials in the court uncomfortable. But sometimes he's just silly, like he is now."
Empress Ma couldn't help but roll her eyes and asked, "So what do you plan to do? Things have escalated to this point, are you really going to send Biao'er on a northern tour to Dadu? And are you really going to transfer your good son-in-law to Beiping to be some kind of prefect?"
Emperor Zhu chuckled and said, "It's certain that Biao'er will tour Dadu in the north. In fact, we don't just plan to have Biao'er tour Dadu, but we also plan to have Chang Heitan accompany and protect him, so that Biao'er can take the second, third, fourth and fifth princes to tour the entire north, including the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun and the Qin and Jin regions."
"As for our silly son-in-law, of course he will continue to stay in Ningyang County as his magistrate. After the Qin and Jin regions have been fully recovered and the border is more stable, we will relocate some people from Shanxi to Ningyang County so that he can run wild."
Empress Ma chuckled and said, "Good, very good. You're really not afraid that he'll come up with some new tricks for you after all this trouble with your silly son-in-law, are you?"
Zhu Chongba, however, stubbornly insisted, "That bastard was the one causing trouble for us before. What's wrong with us causing trouble for him a little more now? We've already caused him trouble once with the issue of exchanging the precious paper money. As the saying goes, whether we herd one sheep or two, it's all the same. If we cause him trouble once more, we won't lose out!"
Empress Ma said seriously, "This is not right—no matter what he did before, it was all about important matters. But what about you? You are joking with him about national affairs. He might be nervous and scared once or twice, but once he finds out that you are just messing with him, aren't you afraid of breaking his heart?"
As Empress Ma finished speaking, Emperor Zhu Chongba fell silent.
After a long while, Emperor Zhu finally spoke, "Sister, what if we weren't deliberately tormenting him, but genuinely had this idea?"
Empress Ma was startled and asked, "What do you mean by 'really having this idea'?"
Zhu Chongba sneered and said, "That is, we really intend to let you and Biao'er go to Dadu, while we stay in the capital and completely destroy this whole country before starting over."
Empress Ma stood up abruptly and looked at Emperor Zhu Chongba, saying in a trembling voice, "Are you crazy! Zhu Chongba, the people of this world have finally managed to enjoy a few days of peace, how could you have such thoughts!"
Zhu Chongba tried to grab Empress Ma's hand, but she dodged him.
Empress Ma glared at Emperor Zhu and said, "Let me tell you, Zhu Chongba, as long as I, Ma Xiuying, am alive, I will never let you run rampant! You want to destroy the whole world and start over? Unless you first depose me, Ma Xiuying, and then just grant me death, it will save me from watching you leave behind a legacy of infamy!"
Seeing Empress Ma with tears already streaming down her face, Zhu Chongba immediately stood up and said anxiously, "Sister! Sister! Can you let me finish what I have to say first?"
Empress Ma stared defiantly at Zhu Chongba, "Fine, I'm listening, you speak."
Zhu Chongba sighed deeply and said, "Sister, do you think I, Zhu Chongba, am the kind of person who doesn't care about the people? If I didn't care about the people, would I have asked the local government to distribute land to them? Would I have asked Tiande and Boren to distribute the captured cattle and horses to the people? Would I have asked the local government to set up reserve granaries?"
“We have never forgotten that when we were begging on the streets, it was the ordinary people of this world who gave us a bite to eat, which allowed Zhu Chongba to survive. If it weren’t for them, where would the Great Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang be? We have never forgotten!”
"But it is precisely because we have never forgotten the goodness of the people that we say we want to completely destroy this world and start over—can't you see, sister, that this world is already rotten to the core? No matter how capable I, Zhu Chongba, am, I can only patch things up, and in the end it will still rot completely."
Empress Ma's expression softened slightly, but she still looked at Emperor Zhu Chongba and asked, "Then tell me, how did the world become so rotten to the core? Why don't I see that? What I see is clearly a world in ruins, a golden age on the horizon."
"If you don't believe me, go out and ask around. Which of the people in the north doesn't praise you, Zhu Chongba, as a benevolent emperor who loves his people like his own children? Especially in Ningyang County, when Wang Qiong went to Ningyang County, what did your good son-in-law say to him?"
"He said to have Wang Qiong go to Bo Ren and ask for a few scholars who harbored resentment towards the Ming Dynasty, and then have these scholars go to Ningyang County to speak ill of you, and see how many of them can leave Ningyang County alive in the end—the fact that he dared to say such a thing shows that the people of Ningyang County approve of you as the emperor."
"Tell me, how did the world become so rotten to the core?"
Emperor Zhu Chongba sighed again and said, "Sister, I know what you mean by these words, but you also have to know that what I mean by 'rotten to the core' is not because of the common people, but because of those so-called local gentry and gentry. What I just said about wanting to start over after the chaos is not about using the army to destroy the whole country and start over!"
"We have another idea!"