The Prosperous Era of Longwan

To be honest, after Wei Guangde carefully read "Public Security Shu", he completely overturned the inherent impression in his mind. This Hai Rui was not scolding Emperor Jiajing at all, but praising Emperor Jiajing.

Of course, this does not mean that the main memorial praises Emperor Jiajing. It also points out his personal mistakes, and it is also relatively comprehensive.

However, I don't know why, in later generations, if it could reach the public's ears, it would be Hai Rui's "Public Security Shu" scolding Emperor Jiajing for being stupid and immoral.

Wei Guangde certainly believed that Lu Bu would not copy the wrong notes, and the thing in his hand must be the original text of "Public Security Notes" written by Hai Rui.

I won’t go into the general truth at the beginning. I will say directly later that Emperor Jiajing was a very wise monarch, comparable to the ancient sage kings Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wenwu, and comparable to Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty, and Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty. Argument.

Later, Hai Rui also said that when you first came to the throne, you changed the chaotic situation since Zhu Houzhao, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, promoted the advantages and eliminated the disadvantages, and restricted the power of the eunuchs. Everyone in the world thought that you were a wise and great king who could cooperate with Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty.

Hai Rui was actually very good at talking, especially when he first flattered Emperor Jiajing and set the tone that the Emperor would always be great, bright and correct.

Even if it is said later that Emperor Jiajing's enterprising spirit could not be sustained for a long time, some absurd ideas led him to deviate from the original intention, and he devoted himself to mystical cultivation, large-scale construction projects and not going to court for more than 20 years, which led to the weakening of discipline.

There have been many attempts to promote cases of granting, and there have been too many officials and titles;

The two princes cannot meet with Your Majesty. People think that you despise the relationship between father and son;

Because of suspicion and slander, you kill and insult courtiers, and people think you despise the relationship between king and minister;

If you play in Xiyuan without returning to the palace, people will think that you despise the love of husband and wife.

The officials in the world are corrupt, the generals are cowardly, the people are in dire straits, floods and droughts occur constantly, and thieves are rampant.

In the early years of His Majesty's ascension to the throne, these things also existed, but they were not as serious.

Now the taxes and levies have increased year after year, and various places have followed suit. Your Majesty has spent all his money and worshiped Buddhism, and has intensified his efforts. His house has been like a hanging chime, and it has reached its peak after more than ten years. People in the world then speculated on the name of the year when Your Majesty changed the Yuan Dynasty: "Jiajing, which means Every house is clean and has no money.”

Yan Song was dismissed from office and Yan Shifan was sentenced to death, which made people feel a little happy. It was called the political Qingming period for a while.

But after Yan Song resigned as prime minister, the situation was just like before Yan Song became prime minister. It was not a very peaceful and stable governance in the world, and it was far behind the period of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty.

The people of the world have been dissatisfied with Your Majesty for a long time. This is known to both internal and external ministers. It is the responsibility of the ministers to rely on the ministers to help rescue and correct His Majesty's mistakes and return you to the right path.

During the ritual ceremony, the ministers offered incense, heavenly peaches and heavenly elixirs, and congratulations one after another.

When the palace was being built, the Ministry of Works tried its best to build it; in order to obtain spices and treasures, the Ministry of Husbandry sent people to search everywhere.

When His Majesty behaves absurdly, the ministers follow him absurdly, and no one can clarify the right and wrong for His Majesty.

The principles of rewarding good deeds, punishing illegal practices, and promoting good deeds and suppressing evil have long been lost on hearing, because flattery has become the norm.

These people are already ashamed and discouraged. They are used to obeying His Majesty at the whim of the situation and singing His Majesty's praises against their conscience.

How should the crime of deceiving the emperor be dealt with?

Wei Guangde scratched his head, knowing that this Hai Rui did not want to be passed down to future generations for his pedantry. On the contrary, he was a very shrewd opportunist.

In the main memorial, at least Hai Rui did not say that it was wrong for Emperor Jiajing to engage in great rituals, that it was wrong not to go to court for more than twenty years, or that it was wrong to kill loyal ministers.

It is only said that it was wrong for him to seek immortality and he spent all the money in the world to come up with the saying "Jia Jing Jiajing, every family will be pure".

Therefore, it seems that Hai Rui's memorial did not touch Emperor Jiajing's bottom line, nor did it reach Emperor Jiajing's rebellion.

In fact, what was the bottom line of Emperor Jiajing?

One, of course, is to accuse him of being stupid and incompetent, and the other is some of the things that happened back then. The Great Ceremony Discussion has always been an insurmountable obstacle between him and the civil servants. Even now, officials still come forward from time to time, begging him to pardon his original crime. officials.

He had avoided the biggest pitfall in Emperor Jiajing's heart, so Hai Rui's life would definitely not be lost.

Think about what impression people will have in future generations?

Hai Rui denounced Emperor Jiajing. The emperor was angry and wanted to kill him, but all the officials tried to protect him. In the end, he became known as "Qingtian".

Only now did Wei Guangde understand that Hai Rui's immortality was not what the storybook said. Someone was probably behind it.

not that simple.

Even if Emperor Jiajing really wanted to kill him, it was because of Hai Ruigu's mentality of fishing for fame. He was betting that Emperor Jiajing would not dare to touch him.

Although there were many honest officials who died tragically in the Jiajing Dynasty, these people were eventually remembered as the heads of Yan Song and others.

Emperor Jiajing is very smart. Although he seems to have handed over power to Yan Song on weekdays, in fact, he still makes his own decisions on major affairs of the court. Whether he kills many people and whether he uses many people depends on Emperor Jiajing's decision. Will.

Therefore, even if Emperor Jiajing did not go to court for more than 20 years, there would be no major problems in the Ming Dynasty.

Hai Rui was an upright official, a great upright official, and a very famous upright official.

Hai Rui entered the officialdom as a juren, first serving as the magistrate of Nanping, Fujian Province, and later promoted to the county magistrate of Chun'an, Zhejiang and Xingguo counties, Jiangxi. He promoted clearing the heads of government and leveling taxes, and repeatedly redressed unjust, false and wrong cases, and cracked down on corrupt officials, winning the hearts of the people.

Honest officials were Hai Rui's greatest source of confidence in scolding the emperor, and they were also Hai Rui's talisman.

Because the person who kills an upright official must be a foolish king. This has been a law since ancient times.

If Emperor Jiajing killed Hai Rui, it would be shown to the world and future generations that he was a foolish king, and an incompetent one at that, while Hai Rui would become a loyal minister and remain a loyal minister through the ages.

Of course Emperor Jiajing would not be deceived by Hai Rui and let himself be known as a faint king through the ages, and become Hai Rui.

Moreover, Wei Guangde actually felt that this memorial was very strange at this time.

When was the most chaotic time during the Jiajing Dynasty?

In fact, it should be from the 29th year of Jiajing to the 41st year of Jiajing. During the more than ten years when Yan Song was in power, although government affairs were running normally, it was an indisputable fact that corruption in officialdom was accelerating.

During this period, Hai Rui had already entered the official position. He did not submit the memorial when he was the county magistrate or prefectural judge, but stuck at this time to submit the "Public Security Manual". Wei Guangde guessed that maybe he knew from some source the judgment that Emperor Jiajing would not live long. Therefore, the emperor at this time is most concerned about his posthumous reputation.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde suddenly realized what he was doing.

In fact, there have been rumors in the court that the Jiajing copy of the "Yongle Dadian" copied this time was something that Emperor Jiajing wanted to be buried underground as a funerary object.

Emperor Jiajing continuously urged the school records office to copy the canon. In fact, as long as a slightly smarter official should be able to guess a rough idea through these clues.

In the past, when I only learned about this era through words, I thought it took a lot of courage for Hai Rui to write this memorial, because he thought that the entire "Political and Public Security" should be about the emperor's mistakes, so writing it would be equivalent to risking his own life. Hand it over.

However, after immersing himself in the situation, Wei Guangde realized that history cannot be copied by others, and those who can leave their names in history are not easy to compare with, and they are all smart.

Hai Rui is a person who successfully seizes opportunities. A letter called "Public Security Essay" made him famous throughout his life.

But because of this, he could only live in poverty, because apart from the unspoken official income, other money was completely out of his reach, just because he wanted to maintain this integrity.

This is probably what he has already thought about.

Although the salary in the Ming Dynasty was low, each of them had a lot of filial piety. As an unspoken rule, it would not damage his reputation as an "upright official".

No longer reading the memorial, Wei Guangde threw it aside, but picked up the "Yongle Dadian" that he had not finished yet and began to continue his work.

At this time, in the cabinet, Li Chunfang, the second assistant, had arrived at Xu Jie's duty. Xu Jie gave Li Chunfang the memorial from Hai Rui sent by the Secretary of General Affairs to read, wondering how he would vote.

This memorial was a bit hot-button. Although it praised His Majesty's wisdom and martial prowess throughout and constantly pointed out the Emperor's mistakes, Xu Jie didn't know how to deal with it for a while.

After Li Chunfang finished reading, he looked at a loss as to what to do, and Xu Jie recounted the news that the general envoy had told him before.

"I heard that the head of the Household Department named Hai Rui had already bid farewell to his wife, dismissed his servants, and bought a coffin at home to await punishment from the court."

"What, this Hai Rui is so unbearable? He is trying to force you to lose your reputation in the world."

"What's the use of knowing? The rumors outside are that Hai Rui is a loyal minister who dares to directly admonish His Majesty. We are all sycophants who only want to please the emperor and do those despicable things."

Xu Jie was in a very bad mood at this time.

Although he sat on the throne of chief minister and did things that were not much different from when Yan Song was around, he still wanted to be shameless. This was not the case in the past. No matter how much money Emperor Jiajing asked for, he would accept it all like Yan Song did. Strive to make every effort to reduce the cost of the inner court as much as possible.

Because after Xu Jie and others came to power, Jiajing had restrained a lot, and his extravagant life had been extremely restrained. After all, Xu Jie was more shameless than Yan Song, so he couldn't be his lackey.

But when it came to Hai Rui's words, what he actually did was no different from Yan Song's, and he directly denied everything he did.

It is conceivable that if this were passed down to future generations, how would the world look at him and compare him to Yan Song Er?

In fact, Wei Guangde guessed wrong. Emperor Jiajing might not even have the murderous intention to kill Hai Rui at this time, but Xu Jie had the murderous intention and wanted to kill Hai Rui to vent his anger.

Anyway, as long as Hai Rui dies, everything will be the fault of Emperor Jiajing. What does Xu Jie have to do with him?

Just like the deaths of Yang Jisheng, Shen Lian and others will only be remembered by Yan Song, and no one will think about anything else.

If Emperor Jiajing had even the slightest intention of wanting their lives alive at that time, Yan Shifan would not dare to take advantage of them easily.

"What's your plan, Lord Chief Assistant?"

Li Chunfang asked with cupped hands.

"I don't have any good ideas, so I invited Zi Shi to come over and discuss it."

Xu Jie sighed.

"Although the core of this memorial is the wisdom of our emperor, the words contained in it will inevitably offend Long Yan, but we, on the other hand, might as well not say it."

Li Chunfang also felt unhappy.

He did not dare to remonstrate with Emperor Jiajing because he knew that remonstrance would have no effect and would also affect his career.

Since Yang Jisheng died tragically in prison and Shen Lian was assassinated in Datong, there are not many officials who dare to speak out.

People like Xu Jie, who had been suppressed by Yan Song's party for more than 20 years, had previously used Yang Jisheng and Shen Lian to test the limits of Emperor Jiajing, but they all failed.

Everyone puts their wealth and life on this official career. With their lessons learned, no one has the courage to speak out.

I just didn't expect that until now, there would still be people who dared to play this trick.

"This son's plan is amazing and should not be underestimated."

Li Chunfang only said this sentence for a long time.

"Zishi, what do you think should be written in the draft?"

Xu Jie remembered the purpose of inviting him here, so he asked directly.

"Master Chief Assistant, it's better not to write it down. Send it directly to the palace, and ask your Majesty to read it."

Li Chunfang just shook her head and pushed the matter out, "It's a good idea to buy a coffin and wait for death."

"Master, Prince Yu's Mansion invites you to come over when you have time to discuss anything."

In the school library, Wei Guangde is looking through the last manuscript of the day. As long as he reads this copy, today's work task will be completed.

"knew."

After hearing Lu Bu's words, Wei Guangde replied lightly.

You don't need to guess why Prince Yu's Mansion is looking for him. Prince Yu must have seen Hai Rui's memorial.

But let's forget this matter. Prince Yu's Palace should not interfere. Hai Rui will not die anyway. There are loyal and upright ministers in the court who will protect him, Master Hai Qing and Tian Hai.

Just when Lu Bu was about to go out, Wei Guangde suddenly called him.

"Do you know the news from the court today? Did your Majesty send someone to arrest Hai Rui?"

Wei Guangde asked directly, remembering what he had read, it seemed that Hai Rui was arrested after reading this memorial, and was imprisoned until Emperor Jiajing died before being released by the new emperor.

In the past, he didn't pay much attention to this matter, but after reading the full text of "Public Security Shu" today, his original consciousness was greatly shaken, and he knew that there might be something fishy in it.

"No news."

Lu Bu replied honestly.

Looking at the sky outside the house, Wei Guangde guessed that the memorial might not have been delivered to Emperor Jiajing at this time, so he would just wait and see.

After looking at the remaining half of the book, Wei Guangde said: "Okay, you go down and tell me outside. I will go to Prince Yu's Mansion in a moment and ask them to wait for me outside the Yamen."

"Yes, sir."

Lu Bu agreed, turned around and went out to deliver the letter.

At this time, the atmosphere in Xiyuan Yongshou Palace was so cold and suffocating.

The memorials handled by the cabinet today have been sent to the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and the Supervisor of Ceremonies has also singled out the memorials that need to be read by the emperor and sent them here.

However, when Chen Hongcong walked into Yongshou Palace today, his feet were trembling slightly for some reason.

He kept cursing Hai Rui in his heart for looking for trouble, but he could do a lot of harm to a slave like him.

As a special memorial, Emperor Jiajing naturally had to deal with it first.

If a memorial like Hai Rui's was suppressed, once Emperor Jiajing saw it, Chen Hong would not be willing to accept the emperor's anger.

At this time, Emperor Jiajing was sitting quietly on the throne, looking through the memorial written by Hai Rui. The corners of his mouth twitched from time to time, and it seemed that Emperor Jiajing was trying his best to suppress his anger.

Although the opening chapter sets the tone of his being wise and mighty, the middle and latter chapters are all about accusing him of being a believer in religion and wasting national power, which makes him unbearable.

He threw the memorial to the ground and said angrily: "Here comes someone, order the Jin Yiwei to arrest him immediately. Don't let him escape."