Save the Bachelor of Heaven

After the introduction of the three policies of "divide the land into the land", "the gentry all work as errands and pay the grain as one" and "return the waste to the public", although the ministers all felt heartbroken, few dared to stand up and resist at this moment.

The reason is also very simple. In the past three years, Xiang Nan has killed more than 100,000 corrupt officials, with heads rolling and blood flowing like rivers. This is more than Zhu Yuanzhang killed during his thirty-one year reign.

It can be said that he is selfless and ruthless.

Facing such a tyrant, how dare they jump out and want more than their own heads?

Moreover, they are all smart people and know that these three policies are beneficial to the country and the people.

If they go against the trend and jump out to oppose, even if they are beheaded in the future, they will not be praised in the history books.

In life, one must either seek wealth before death or glory after death.

You can no longer keep your honor during life. If you lose your honor after death, then your life will be in vain.

Therefore, few courtiers dared to speak out against it.

On the other hand, a group of gentry and students from Jiangsu and Zhejiang went to the Confucius Temple to weep in the temple, wanting the emperor to take back his life. They believed that they should not violate the ancestral system and be so mean and unkind to the scholars in the world.

When the courtiers saw this, they all seemed to be convinced, and they immediately agreed and agreed. Please ask Xiang Nan to withdraw his decree and not to disrespect the scholars of the world.

…

Xiang Nan heard this and became furious.

Crying in temples is a phenomenon unique to the Ming Dynasty. Whenever there was something illegal or inappropriate in the government, the scholars would gather in the Confucian Temple and write "Juan Tang Wen". After crying to the founder, Kong Shengren, they would also call the people to complain to the superior government.

The Ming Dynasty was a cabinet system. Even the emperor was under the control of the cabinet and could not do whatever he wanted. Therefore, scholars crying in the temple must be treated with caution.

Therefore, every time the scholars cried in the temple, the court had to make concessions.

But those scholars did not represent the interests of the lowest class of people, but the interests of their gentry class. They are not speaking for justice, but for their own interests.

When scholars cry in temples, they are protecting their own interests, while harming the interests of the court and the people.

In the late Ming Dynasty, the reason why the court was short of money and could not collect taxes was closely related to the Crying Temple. Because the scholars in Jiangsu and Zhejiang often cried in temples, causing local tax officials a headache.

Jiangsu and Zhejiang are the richest places in the country, and they are unwilling to pay taxes, which directly affects the tax revenue of the imperial court. The imperial court had no money and was unable to resist the foreign invaders, so the Manchus entered the customs.

After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, taxes were also levied on Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The local scholars wanted to cry in the temple, but the rulers of the Qing Dynasty did not listen to that trick at all, and directly tied the people who cried in the temple to the execution ground, and all 18 scholars were killed.

After this incident, there were no more crying temples in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Therefore, Xiang Nan also followed suit and directly ordered the Jinyi guards to tie the person who led the cry in the temple to the execution ground and perform a knife attack. The heads were rolling for a while, which frightened many people.

…

But even so, the gentry still refused to give up.

When it came to the autumn scientific examination, candidates from Jiangsu and Zhejiang were absent from the examination collectively.

Originally, there were hundreds of thousands of students coming out of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to take the exam each time.

But now students taking exams cannot even sit in the exam room.

Seeing this, Xiang Nan naturally knew that the scholars were demonstrating against him.

The courtiers also took the opportunity to submit another memorial, hoping that Xiang Nan would withdraw his decree and not chill the hearts of the scholars in the world.

"I have chilled the hearts of the scholars in the world, or the scholars of the world have chilled my heart." Xiang Nan scolded, "They all have rich clothes, delicious food, good fields at home, and fat horses in their stables, and they just pass the exam. With just one move, the person who dedicated himself has crossed the threshold. Do you think I don’t know that?

Compared with them, what kind of life do ordinary people live? They have no clothes to wear, no food to eat, they have to pay taxes, they have to work as errands, and they have to serve.

They are actually not satisfied, have no gratitude to the court, and no compassion for the people. Even if such a student becomes a Jinshi and becomes an official, he is nothing more than a corrupt official who brings disaster to the country and the people. "

After a few words, he scolded the officials so much that they didn't dare to reply.

"When scholars make trouble, there must be someone who takes the lead." Xiang Nan added, "Passengers are told to order Han Ming, commander of the Jinyi Guards, to immediately go to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to investigate and find out who is causing trouble in the government. The leader will be wanted and dealt with severely.

Fu Zhongtang, you immediately rush to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to explain to the people my painstaking efforts in launching the three policies. Don't listen to the villain's instigation, and retake the exam as soon as possible.

And I told the students from Jiangsu and Zhejiang that this time I am particularly merciful. If they still refuse to repent, the imperial court will terminate the scientific research in Jiangsu and Zhejiang from now on. "

After the decree was issued, the courtiers were in an uproar, all frightened by Xiang Nan's ruthlessness.

Scholars have been produced in Jiangsu and Zhejiang since ancient times. If the imperial court terminates the scientific examination in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, millions of students in Jiangsu and Zhejiang will be doomed.

Moreover, considering Xiang Nan's style of killing hundreds of thousands of corrupt officials in three years, they also believed that Xiang Nan didn't just let it go. It is really possible that he will terminate the scientific examination in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

As a result, the future of scholars in Jiangsu and Zhejiang will be ruined, even if they relocate or immigrate in the future, it will not work. So they absolutely can't take any more chances.

Later, Commander Ha Ming of the Jin Yiwei arrived in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and easily arrested several students who incited students in Jiangsu and Zhejiang to strike out from the exams.

In addition, the academic administrators, chief envoys, inspectors, magistrates, prefects, etc. in Jiangsu and Zhejiang who connived at and indirectly supported the students who were on strike were also punished.

The students who took the lead in instigating the boycott of the exams were all executed outside the Gongyuan where the exams were held, as a warning to others. Officials who condoned and supported the strike were all dismissed from their posts and exiled outside the Great Wall, never to be used again.

Subsequently, Fu Zongming, a bachelor of the cabinet, presided over the make-up examination.

This time, no student dared to stop taking the exam, and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang scientific examinations were successfully completed.

However, in the following decades, students from Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas have never won the top prize in the exam, not even the top three.

Even if those who passed the Jinshi examination became officials, they were assigned to remote areas and could not be promoted for a long time. Even among the cabinet, six ministries, and nine ministers, there is no minister who is originally from Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Moreover, Xiang Nan also issued decrees many times, asking scholars all over the world to study diligently, not to go in and out of the yamen, not to resist money and food arrears, not to arbitrarily impose local songs, not to instigate lawsuits, not to cheat on the fields, and not to take over the food differentials. If there is any violation of the prohibition, we will deal with it as an example to the public.

He also warned the gentry everywhere that they were strictly prohibited from controlling lawsuits and monopolizing money and food. Once discovered, they would be severely punished and reported in detail, and they would be punished with leather shackles as usual.

These two decrees completely erased the dignity and privileges of the scholars and gentry of the Ming Dynasty, allowing them to be obedient citizens from now on, and never think about making trouble or causing trouble again.

After these turmoils, the three policies of "sharing the land with the peasants", "returning the waste to the public", and "the gentry and the gentry all work as errands and receive food as one" were successfully implemented. Although there are still many obstacles, in short, it still cannot stop the mighty trend.