Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 324 The Fall of the Donglin Party
While the father and son were talking, the butler came in and reported: "Master, the saint has arrived!"

"What?" Shi Kefa's face changed drastically when he heard the words, and he got up anxiously and said, "Hurry up, Longjiang, go to the backyard to pick up Mrs. Tai, and meet Shengjia at the gate."

"Yes." Shi Dewei agreed and turned to leave.

"Master, it's too late." But the housekeeper said with a stampede, "The holy driver has already entered the gate by now!"

However, the butler still underestimated Chongzhen, almost as soon as the butler finished speaking, Chongzhen's voice sounded outside the study: "Old Shige, I came here uninvited, you don't blame me for being rude, do you?"

When I looked up anxiously, I saw Chongzhen had already appeared at the door of the study.

This was completely out of Shi Kefa's surprise, and I thought that you are too willful, my lord. Since ancient times, the holy car's trip has been such a grand event, and the etiquette of the car is absolutely indispensable. How can there be someone like you ?

Besides, if you are like this, it is difficult for me to be a courtier, and I will be scolded by the censor for neglecting the holy car.

At any rate, you stay at the gate of the mansion for a while, so that I can take Mrs. Tai and Madam to the gate to greet you.

While slandering Shi Kefa, he brought Shi Dewei and the housekeeper to kneel down on the ground: "Sir Shi Kefa, please pay homage to the Holy Majesty, and the Holy Majesty is blessed and safe."

"Pingshen." Chongzhen raised his hand to signal Shi Kefa and others to get up.

When Shi Kefa got up, he saw that Chongzhen had already stood in front of the desk and was looking at the picture on the desk.

Shi Dewei was a little nervous, and hurriedly said: "My lord, this is what I heard you say in Piyong. I thought it was good, so I silently wrote it down for my father to read."

Chongzhen smiled and asked, "Are you Shi Dewei?"

Shi Kefa hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, this son is the adopted son of the mothfly that I received."

"I know." Chongzhen said, "Shi Ge has no children, so he adopted Shi Dewei as his adopted son."

After saying this, Chongzhen said again: "Shi Dewei, I have a few words to say to your father, you go outside and watch."

"I obey the order!" Shi Dewei hurried out of the study upon hearing this.

Chongzhen then said to Wang Chengen, Lu Jiude, Gao Qiqian, Hu Guozhu, Wu Batan, Meng Ketu and other six people who followed him: "You all go out too."

Hu Guozhu said worriedly, "Your Majesty?"

"It doesn't matter." Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "If there is only one person in the entire Ming Dynasty who will not harm me, then this person must be Old Shi Ge, so I have nothing to worry about here."

"I will obey the order." Hu Guozhu and the others all bowed and withdrew.

Only Shi Kefa and Chongzhen were left in the study.

Chongzhen pointed to the writing on the desk, and asked Shi Kefa: "Old Shi Ge, what do you think?"

Shi Kefa considered his words for a while, and said: "The Holy Majesty thinks deeply and sees things thoroughly, which are far beyond what I can fathom. For example, the policy of dividing civil and military affairs into one is really unheard of, but when I think about it carefully, I find it wonderful. , In this way, not only can avoid the shortcomings of the lack of military virtues of the Great Ming Dynasty, but also prevent the scourge of military officials usurping power, it can be said to kill two birds with one stone."

Shi Kefa was still very cautious, only talking about the benefits of civil and military division, and deliberately did not mention the cabinet as a country.

But Chongzhen didn't have so many taboos, and took the initiative to bring it up: "Old Shi Ge, do you think it is feasible for the cabinet to govern as I said? Is there anything to add?"

"This..." Shi Kefa hesitated.

Chongzhen said: "Just speak straight, and speak boldly and confidently."

"The minister leads the decree." Shi Kefa said straight out of his heart, "My lord, if we can do this, our Ming Dynasty will have no flaws. From now on, the government affairs will be handled by the cabinet, and the conquest will be decided by the emperor. Both sides will perform their duties. Without interfering with each other and closely cooperating, in this way, the sun, moon, mountains and rivers can really be forever."

Shi Kefa actually agrees with some of Gao Hongtu's views.

For example, the government of the cabinet is definitely better than that of the emperor.

Because the chief minister of the cabinet can basically guarantee that they are all elites.

But the emperor has almost no way to guarantee that they are all elites.

"Forget it if the sun, moon, mountains and rivers are forever, there is no immortal dynasty in the world."

Chongzhen waved his hand, and said, "Old Shi Ge, then I will ask you again now, if the cabinet is entrusted with the full power of state affairs, how do you plan to govern? Oh, this is just a private discussion."

Shi Kefa heaved a sigh of relief, and said, "The first thing is to raise food and salary for the Holy Majesty..."

"Hey, you don't need to worry about the food and wages, I will find a way to solve it myself." Chongzhen said, "You only talk about how to govern?"

Shi Kefa said: "Now that the Bank of the Ministry of Accounting has been established, and the Municipal Exchange of the Ministry of Accounting has also begun to sell bonds, the problem of insufficient national use has been temporarily resolved, so I plan to rectify the administration of officials first."

Chongzhen then asked: "How does Mr. Shi Ge plan to rectify the administration of officials?"

"Start with the bad habits of the officialdom." Shi Kefa said, "We must get rid of the bad habits of the officialdom, such as welcome and send, and eat and get cards. Clear."

Just from this point, it is enough to see that Shi Kefa is not a vegetarian, he still has ideas.

"Okay, I hope that Ming's officialdom will become upright as soon as possible." Chongzhen nodded, and said, "Then from tomorrow, Mr. Shi Ge, you can return to the cabinet to take care of things."

"Since I said this in Biyong Mingtang, I will definitely count on it."

"In the future, government orders drafted by the cabinet will not need to be sent to the supervisor of ceremonies for approval, and can be directly promulgated."

"There is also the evaluation, selection and dismissal of all officials. I will not bother about it anymore. Everything is decided by the cabinet."

Speaking of this, Chongzhen said again: "Of course, I can only promise you verbally now, but when the time is right, I can start to revise the Huangming ancestor's precepts and write this one into the ancestral precepts."

"Your Majesty." Shi Kefa cupped his hands, and said in some embarrassment, "My lord..."

The emperor only invited him twice before returning to the cabinet with embarrassment. Shi Kefa still felt a little ashamed.

"Shi Kefa." Chongzhen said with a serious face, "What I despise the most is your Confucianism's red tape, three invitations, four invitations, or even eighteen invitations, are they really that important to you Confucian children? "

"This..." Shi Kefa was at a loss for words, thinking that Confucianism would be a good face, but he couldn't say it.

"What I hate the most in my life is these red tapes." Chongzhen snorted, "Before the crown prince accepted the concubine, I asked the Ministry of Rites to go through the whole process within three days, and the censor insulted me for being contemptuous of etiquette."

"I'm not disdainful of etiquette, but some etiquette is really intolerable to me."

"For example, binding feet, such bad habits are really harmful to nature, and I will abolish them sooner or later."

"For another example, rewarding widows and encouraging widows to stay widowed. There is also peace in this matter."

Speaking of this, Chongzhen said again: "Now it is a troubled time, a large number of young men in the country are lost or even killed in battle, and there are not many widows in the world. If everyone is a chaste martyr, then who will have children? For a country, one As far as the dynasty is concerned, the population is the most precious resource, so the bad habit of giving honors to chaste and martyrs is really unacceptable."

Listening to Chongzhen's accusations one by one there, Shi Kefa felt that the whole three views were shattered.

Binding feet has existed since ancient times, and should it be abolished?The granting of honors to chaste and martyrs should also be abolished?
Chongzhen went on to say: "There are also sacrifices to heaven and earth, sacrifices to the Taimiao, etc., and the Ministry of Rites must re-draft the regulations. The worship process is on the basis of solemnity and solemnity. The simpler and time-saving the better."

"Don't make eighteen tricks out of a simple kneeling."

"My time is very precious, and there is no extra time wasted on these etiquette."

"Ah, this?" Shi Kefa's three views have been shattered and shattered, even the etiquette of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth and offering sacrifices to the Taimiao should be simplified?But if it is too simple, what is the royal dignity?

"I don't want such royal prestige." Chongzhen said, "Royal prestige is not built by relying on these red tapes. If the royal family does not practice virtue and virtue is not matched, no matter how many red tapes are used, it will be difficult to gain prestige. Don’t dare to say it to your face, don’t you dare to say it behind your back? Even if you don’t dare to say it behind your back, don’t you dare to say it in your heart? Not necessarily.”

"On the other hand, if you have both virtue and conduct, you don't have the blessing of etiquette, and you can not be angry and arrogant, right?"

After a short pause, Chongzhen said again: "Old Shi Ge, the times are constantly developing, and knowledge is becoming more and more popular. Have you not seen that the number of children, scholars, and even juren in our Ming Dynasty far exceeds that of any previous dynasty?"

"This minister has also discovered this." Shi Kefa said, "It is a good testament to the prosperity of culture and education in our dynasty..."

"What does this have to do with culture and education?" Chongzhen waved his hands, "It is nothing more than the continuous advancement of papermaking and printing technology, which has led to books getting cheaper and cheaper, so more and more students can afford books and have the ability to receive education. This led to a surge in the number of Tongsheng, Xiucai and even Juren."

After a short pause, Chongzhen said again: "It won't be long before the price of books will continue to drop, and the number of students who have the ability to acquire knowledge will increase. Therefore, the opening of the wisdom of the people is the general trend and inevitable. Once the wisdom of the people is fully opened, we can count on these To maintain the majesty of the royal family with red tape is a waste of time."

Shi Kefa couldn't keep up with His Majesty's thinking at this time.

Chongzhen himself also realized that his words were a bit too divergent.

At the moment Chongzhen said again: "I will briefly summarize that all etiquettes are solemn, solemn, simple, and time-saving as the most basic criteria, and those that do not conform to this will be reformed."

"And you, Mr. Shi Ge, don't pursue those false names anymore."

"I don't care about these false names, so what do you care about?"

Having said this, Chongzhen said again: "You and my monarchs and ministers worked together to make the Ming Dynasty the most prosperous and prosperous dynasty in China for thousands of years, and you and my monarchs were also able to become the emperor with the most prosperous civil and martial arts in China and the chief assistant of the greatest cabinet." Isn't reputation far better than the false name of asking me three times, four times, or even eighteen times?"

Chongzhen's words finally reached Shi Kefa's heart.

Yes, compared with the three immortals such as making meritorious deeds and making words, what are those vain rituals?

At that moment, Shi Kefa bowed to the tunnel and said: "If it weren't for the words of the Holy Majesty, I would almost lose my mind. If so, I will return to the cabinet tomorrow to watch matters."

"Hey, this is the responsibility that I, the chief assistant of the Ming cabinet, should have." Chongzhen nodded happily.

But soon, Chongzhen said with a straight face: "Old Shi Ge, then the next thing is the dialogue between the emperor of Ming Dynasty and the chief assistant of the cabinet."

Shi Kefa said: "I respectfully listen to the hadith."

"Let's talk about the Donglin Party first." Chongzhen said solemnly, "Gao Hongtu, Jiang Yueguang, Zhang Youyu, Zuo Guangxian, Yuan Pengnian, Liu Zhengzong, Li Jinglian, Lu Lang, Huang Erding, Luo Wanxiang and more than twenty All officials, big or small, who are related to the regicide case and the frame-up case must formally plead guilty in the form of a memorial.”

"As long as they are willing to write a letter and plead guilty, I can not offend my family."

"Even if it involves regicide and treason, you can only pursue the person himself, and at most confiscate the family property."

"But the family members of the prisoner don't have to be implicated, the males don't have to be beheaded, and the female relatives don't have to be implicated."

After a pause, Chongzhen went on to say: "However, as long as there is an official involved in the case who does not report, then don't blame me for being cruel. I can do the same things that Taizu and Chengzu could do back then!"

Shi Kefa heard the words in awe, what does it mean to kill someone?This is called murder.

Not only do I want to kill you, but I also want you to plead guilty in writing before you are executed.

At that moment Shi Kefa said: "Your Majesty, I must convey the message to the Donglin party members."

"Wrong, what I said just now was for Gao Hongtu and the twenty criminal officials." Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "But I also have something to say to all Donglin Party members, and I limit them to three days. Internally, it was publicly published in the Huangming Times, announcing that it would break away from the Donglin Party, and that it would never have anything to do with the Donglin Party."

"Huangming Times?" Shi Kefa couldn't help being taken aback when he heard the words.

What is the Huangming Times, why haven't I heard of it?

"Old Shi Ge, you will know when you go back to Tongji Street." Chongzhen said, "Old Shi Ge, please take the lead in this matter. After all, you were a member of the Donglin Party before."

Shi Kefa nodded and said, "This matter is my duty."

Shi Kefa has no psychological burden to draw a clear line with the Donglin Party.

When he turned against Gao Hongtu and others in the court that day, Shi Kefa had already completely broken with the Donglin Party.

Chongzhen also said: "Anyone who publishes in the newspaper and announces his severance from the Donglin Party can continue to serve as an official in the court. Anyone who is unwilling to publish in the newspaper to sever ties with the Donglin Party must either dismiss himself and return to his hometown, or wait for the Ministry of Officials to dismiss him! In a word, from now on, there will be no Donglin party official in the Ming Dynasty Hall!"

Chongzhen said that he would uproot the Donglin Party.

Shi Kefa's face darkened immediately when he heard the words, and he said to himself that you just said that you would not interfere with the appointment and removal of cabinet officials.

Chongzhen laughed lightly and said, "Old Shige, don't blame me for not being counted. After all, you haven't returned to the cabinet at this time, but this Donglin Party, I will not only uproot it, but also completely wipe it out." Criticize it, criticize it, and step on [-] feet, making it impossible to turn over forever!"

"So, I understand."

Shi Kefa could only sigh sadly.

Think back then, how powerful were the members of the Donglin Party?

I didn't expect to be reduced to such a field today, alas.

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(End of this chapter)