Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 317 Battle of Ideas
A few days later, a small boat floated on the surface of Xuanwu Lake.

Chongzhen and Gao Hongtu rowed the boat towards the center of the lake with one paddle each.

Gao Hongtu looked around, only to see the white water, and within a hundred paces, except for their small boat, there were no other boats.

A thought rose from Gao Hongtu's mind unstoppably.

If the boat is overturned at this time, is it possible for the Holy Majesty to drown?
Just as he was thinking about it, Chongzhen's voice sounded in his ears, "Old Gaoge, are you hesitating whether you want to overturn this flat boat and sink to the bottom of Xuanwu Lake with me?"

Hearing this, Gao Hongtu resolutely dismissed the idea.

Let alone his old age and frailty, whether he has the ability to capsize the boat.

Even if he capsizes the boat, he probably can only drown himself.

If he really drowned like this, it would be difficult to pour the stolen water on Chongzhen's head.

After all, if Chongzhen really wanted to kill him, there was no need to send him to the center of Xuanwu Lake in a small boat.

With a soft snort, Gao Hongtu said: "How can an old minister, who has received the state's grace, do such a thing against human relations? Besides, the sage is in the prime of life, even if the boat really falls into the water, he can easily swim to the shore."

Chongzhen said: "Speaking of being young and strong, Emperor Wuzong and my brother were also young and strong, but why did the dragon rule Bintian once they fell into the water?"

Gao Hongtu said: "How does the veteran know about this?"

"No, you know Mr. Gaoge." Chongzhen shook his head and said, "It's just that he doesn't admit it."

After this pause, Chongzhen said again: "Old Gaoge, the boat has reached the center of Xuanwu Lake at this time, and there are only you and my monarch and ministers within a hundred steps, so you can talk openly if you have anything to say, don't have any scruples anymore and cover up."

The expression on Gao Hongtu's face really relaxed, because what Chongzhen said was right, there is really no need to worry about the conversation between the two being heard by a third person, so there is really no need to hide it.

What's more, some words have been held in Gao Hongtu's heart for a long time, and they are also uncomfortable.

At that moment Gao Hongtu snorted softly and said, "I don't know what the Holy Majesty wants to talk to the old minister about?"

"What are you talking about?" Chongzhen laughed, "Naturally, it's about life, ideals, and ideas."

Gao Hongtu said: "When it comes to philosophy, the Holy Majesty seems to have a prejudice against eunuchs. He frequently kills eunuchs and has no compassion or trust. This is completely different from the previous emperors, but somewhat similar to Emperor Taizu Gao."

Chongzhen asked back: "Old Gao Ge thinks I shouldn't kill Li Chengfang and Yuan Sheng?"

Gao Hongtu said: "Li Chengfang and Yuan Sheng instigated Yongwang to have sex with prostitutes, so they should be killed."

"That is to say, I no longer rely heavily on eunuchs to compete with your civil servants, so Elder Gao Ge feels a little uncomfortable?" Chongzhen asked with a smile, "Is it because of this?"

Gao Hongtu snorted softly, and asked back: "So the idea of ​​the Holy One is to make texts?"

"As expected of Mr. Gaoge." Chongzhen clapped his hands and smiled, "You can see through my intentions at a glance."

Gao Hongtu said in disbelief, "Forgive me for the old minister's blunt words, the Holy Majesty's move is nothing more than fighting a fire with a salary."

After a pause, he continued: "The scourge of the Zhejiang Party, the Qi Party, and the Chu Party, isn't it enough to alert the Holy Majesty?"

In the early years, Chongzhen supported the Zhejiang Party, the Qi Party, and the Chu Party to compete with the Donglin Party. In fact, it was also based on writing.

But the result was disastrous. Instead of achieving the effect of checks and balances, party disputes led to chaos in the government.

Chongzhen said: "Let's not talk about whether I'm using writing to fight the fire. Let's first discuss whether the writing to control military that your Donglin Party strongly advocates is good or bad."

Gao Hongtu said without hesitation: "Using literature to control military affairs is the foundation of strengthening the country. Naturally, it is a good strategy."

"Because we civil servants have read the books of sages and sages since childhood, respect the theory of righteousness and reason, and abide by the way of monarchs and ministers."

"On the other hand, military officials are mostly found in the army, rude and arrogant, and most of them are ambitious, and they are always thinking about splitting the land."

"The Great Han implemented the strategy of emphasizing both civil and military affairs, so that at the end of the Han Dynasty, all heroes rose together. The Tang Dynasty also implemented the policy of emphasizing both civil and military affairs. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, there was also the disaster of separatist regimes. Only the Great Song Dynasty implemented it after Taizu had a cup of wine and released military power. The national policy of using literature to control military affairs, until the end of the Song Dynasty, there will be no disasters such as the rise of all heroes and the separatism of feudal towns."

After a pause, Gao Hongtu said again: "It can be seen from this that it is better to use culture to control martial arts than to emphasize both civil and martial arts."

"Really?" Chongzhen said, "Isn't that true? The Song Dynasty promoted the use of literature to control military forces. In the Song Dynasty, there were indeed no warlords and vassal separatist regimes. However, the disaster of the Yi people was far worse than that of the Han and Tang Dynasties!"

"The big man can crush the barbarians around him until he perishes."

"The Tang Dynasty also maintained a certain military advantage over the surrounding barbarians until its demise."

"Only the Song Dynasty was suppressed and beaten by Liao and Xixia from the beginning to the end, and was even destroyed by Mongolia in the end."

After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "Since the Xuanzong Dynasty, the national policy implemented by the Ming Dynasty is also to control the military with literature, but what is the final result? Wala and Tatar have always been my confidantes in the northern border of the Ming Dynasty. In Wanli, Even being suppressed and beaten by more than a hundred thousand people in the Jiannu area, doesn't Gao Ge feel ashamed?"

Gao Hongtu frowned when he heard the words, and suddenly didn't know how to refute.

Chongzhen said quietly: "Equal emphasis on civil and military affairs will not prevent the internal separatism of the feudal vassals. Although the use of civil and military forces can prevent the internal separatist regimes of the feudal towns, but the external barbarians lost the suppression of the Central Plains military officials, but they took advantage of the situation to rise and formed a crushing trend against the Central Plains dynasty. The fall of the Yuan Dynasty to the Great Song Dynasty was already a bloody lesson, does Mr. Gao Ge want the Ming Dynasty to repeat the same mistakes?"

"The Holy Majesty's words are biased. The demise of the Song Dynasty and the decline of the Ming Dynasty were not caused by the use of literature to control the military, but by the life cycle of a dynasty." Gao Hongtu said, "It's just like a person. In the prime of life, there must be old age, and after that there must be death, and the same is true for dynasties."

Chongzhen said: "Old Gao Ge means that Daming has already entered the twilight years?"

Gao Hongtu nodded and said: "Since the Zhou Dynasty collapsed, the lifespan of a dynasty is roughly [-] to [-] years. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty has lived for [-] and [-] years. It is indeed old age. "

Chongzhen said: "According to Elder Gao Ge, the death of Daming is inevitable, so why does your Donglin Party still keep the Ming Dynasty? What is the purpose of doing this?"

Gao Hongtu said solemnly: "Of course it is for the clothes of the Han family and the Confucian ancestral temple."

"Then I understand, what you are protecting is not Daming, but the clothes of the Han family and the ancestral temple." Chongzhen smiled and said, "That is to say, for you Donglin Party or civil servants, changing the court is actually nothing. Not to mention the emperor, but the ancestral temple of the Han family cannot be abolished."

"That's what it means." Gao Hongtu sighed, and said again, "But the old minister actually doesn't want the Ming Dynasty to perish, because since ancient times, no one who has won the country is the right of my Daming, including the old minister. All the members of the Donglin Party and even all the civil servants are doing their best to continue our Ming dynasty."

"I also want to continue the Ming Dynasty, why don't you allow it?"

Chongzhen's face darkened, and he asked: "Are you really so sure that you can do better than me?"

Gao Hongtu said in disbelief: "What good is it for the Holy One to do well? Can you guarantee that the prince will do well? Even if the prince can do well, can you guarantee that the grandson will also do well?"

Chongzhen said: "Of course this is impossible, and how can there be a substitute for the British Lord?"

Gao Hongtu: "So, the emperor ruled from the top down, but in fact the scholar-bureaucrats governed the country. This is the only good strategy to ensure the longevity of the Han family's clothes and Confucian temples! Because the selection of the emperor's materials is too small, it is impossible to guarantee that the British masters will be born from generation to generation. , but the ministers of the cabinet are selected from thousands of civil servants, and they are all called talents!"

On this point, Chongzhen actually admitted that the cabinet system of the Ming Dynasty was indeed quite advanced.

Gao Hongtu's words really hit the point. It is too difficult for the emperor to be a British lord from generation to generation, but the cabinet ministers must be the elite among civil servants, otherwise it would be impossible to climb to a high position.

At this point, Gao Hongtu's political philosophy is ready to come out - that is, the emperor hangs down and the cabinet governs the country.

To put it more bluntly, the emperor was offered up as a mascot, and the governance of the country was handed over to the cabinet of scholar-bureaucrats.

The so-called clothes of the Han family and the so-called Confucian ancestral temples are all pretense, and the government of the literati and bureaucrats is the essence.

If any emperor threatens the cabinet's power, kill the emperor. If the court threatens the cabinet's power, it is not impossible to change the court.

This is the ultimate pragmatist.

"Haha, Mr. Gao Ge finally spoke his mind."

Chongzhen laughed and said, "That's why Gao Ge wants to get rid of me and then be quick?"

"Yes." Gao Hongtu didn't shy away at all at this time, nodded and said, "Because you want to learn from Emperor Yongle, my lord, because you want to destroy the hard-won cabinet of Ming Dynasty to take power."

The smile on Chongzhen's face disappeared, and he said solemnly: "Then here comes the problem."

"With the Song Dynasty, civil servants were in power. The power of scholar-bureaucrats is not insignificant. The emperor of Song Dynasty can also be regarded as a model of governance, but why did they perish in the end?"

"After the fall of the Song Dynasty, did the clothes of the Han family and the Confucian ancestral temple be preserved?"

"Also, since the Ming Dynasty, the cabinet has been in power since the Xuanzong Dynasty, but why is the country's situation declining, and even the capital is lost in the end? If it weren't for me, Xuzhou would have fallen, and half of the south of the Yangtze River might have already fallen."

"If the slaves go south with iron hooves, Gao Ge thinks he can keep the clothes of the Han family and the Confucian ancestral temple?"

"Mr. Gao Ge didn't think that the slaves and barbarians would also adopt the scholar-bureaucrat cabinet you admired to be the country?"

Gao Hongtu's brows furrowed into a ball, because Chongzhen's continuous questions caught him, making it difficult for him to answer for a while, maybe never.

"Gao Hongtu, can't you answer it? Because you haven't seen the essence of the problem at all."

Chongzhen smiled, and said: "The fall of the Han and Tang Dynasties was not due to the equal emphasis on civil and martial arts, and the decline of the Song and Ming Dynasties was not due to the use of literature to control martial arts. These are not problems."

(End of this chapter)