Daming: Brother, there is no future for monks, let's rebel

Chapter 263 Old Brother Zhu Yuanzhang's Anger

The third leg of the ocean trade, after leaving Nanyang, will continue to the Tianzhu area where Duan Gong is located.

Ming merchants sold tea, porcelain, medicine and other commodities here, and then filled them with various spices and gems produced in Tianzhu.

Finally, they went to the Persian Protectorate area.

The Persians were already in a state of disunity, and Ming easily established a commercial and colonial rule here.

All kinds of spices and gems, porcelain, medicines, rhubarb, etc. are all sold here, and replaced with female slaves, good horses, saffron and other commodities in the hands of Persian merchants, and then return all the way back the same way.

Such a business route allowed Daming merchants to earn a lot of money within two years, and the Daming City Shipping Department also collected more taxes.

All the states in Tianzhu are naturally jealous.

They supported the pirates one by one, harassing and looting in the middle.

Daming naturally couldn't let them be arrogant.

In this fleet, in addition to the navy, the main combat forces also include merchant mariners and sailors.

The merchant ships were loaded with a large amount of goods, as well as the navy, and they would accompany the Ming fleet to wipe out the Tu-states in the Tianzhu area.

Once the Tianzhu state is completely wiped out, the remaining states will obediently submit to Daming.

Although the climate in the south of Tianzhu is a bit too hot, the land is fertile and rich in products, and the soil is also very suitable for farming.

Daming, Ying Tianfu.

Inside the palace

"Your Majesty, please read this memorial!"

In the imperial study room, Li Shanchang handed a memorial to the emperor standing aside.

"Ok?"

Zhu Yuanzhang took the memorial and quickly browsed it. The more he read it, the more ugly his face became, and his brows were wrinkled.

"Who wrote this, what audacity!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was full of anger.

The content of this memorial is about the imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty. It says that the new Confucianism that Ming is now advocating is a pseudo-learning, not the real learning of sages. The simple Four Books and Five Classics system should be restored to prevent the imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty from going astray. .

"Your Majesty Qizuo, this was written by the school inspector Hou Fang of Zhejiang!" Li Shanchang said carefully.

"Zhejiang Inspector Hou Fang? How dare this old man bring up this matter?"

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed back angrily: "Who does he think he is?"

"Your Majesty, calm down!"

Li Shanchang quickly persuaded: "Zhejiang Inspector Hou Fang is the uncle of Kong Mingde. He has been an official in Zhejiang for decades and has a high prestige in Zhejiang. As far as I know, many Confucian scholars did not pass the Zhejiang imperial examination. During the exam, the scholars in Zhejiang had some complaints about this, and it must be because of this incident that Hou Fang wrote the memorandum!"

"Hmph, he will find a reason!" Zhu Yuanzhang sneered.

The current imperial examinations in Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Han's careful improvement, have given many poor scholars a way to rise.

For many families of scholars in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the skills of the Four Books and Five Classics they have accumulated for hundreds of years have all become outdated knowledge and have no use for them, so they are naturally full of resentment.

Hou Fang is related to the Nan Kong family, so he may have known something about Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Han's falsification of new Confucianism, so he made this memorial.

"I think this old thing is crazy!" Zhu Yuanzhang said disdainfully.

"Your Majesty, this memorial still needs to be dealt with carefully." Li Shanchang suggested in a low voice: "However, Zhejiang Inspector Hou Fang's influence in the court is not small. If he is pushed into a hurry, it may not be appropriate."

"That's all!" Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said, "Since he is going to make a fuss, I will play with him."

With that said, Zhu Yuanzhang picked up the brush and began to review the memorial.

Zhejiang, Hangzhou City.

Hangzhou is an important town along the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, and its geographical location is very good.

In the middle of a lake near Hangzhou Bay in the north of Hangzhou, it is the most prosperous place in Hangzhou Prefecture.

The weather has been hot these past few days, and the streets of Hangzhou City are bustling with pedestrians.

In front of the gate of Hangzhou Fucheng, there are two large carts parked.

The door of one of the carriages was pushed open, and a middle-aged scribe in a purple robe stepped out of the carriage.

Beside him was an old man in gray clothes with a goatee, holding a cloth bag in his hand.

"Master Hou, you came so early, let's go to the Hangzhou government office first and wait."

"Ok!"

Hou Fang nodded, and then walked towards the Hangzhou government office with the old man.

In Hangzhou Fuya, two guards in black guard the gate.

After seeing Hou Fang and the old man with the goatee, the two quickly knelt down and saluted.

"Free gift!"

Hou Fang waved his hand lightly, signaling them to get up, and then walked towards the Hangzhou government office.

"Master Hou, please wait a moment!"

At this time, a young man in a green shirt ran out from the backyard of the Hangzhou government office.

He has been working in the government office in Hangzhou, so he naturally knows Hou Fang and the old man with a goatee.

After seeing the two of them, the servant hurriedly called out, "Master Hou, please come inside."

In the government office of Hangzhou, Zhang Hong, the prefect of Hangzhou, is discussing matters with several senior officials.

These officials are the prefect of Hangzhou and the chief envoy of Zhejiang Province, all of whom are powerful figures in Hangzhou.

"This matter is settled like this, and the enrollment will start in the spring of next year."

"However, I think we should be cautious about recruiting students this time!"

"Master Zhang, you are quite worried. We must strictly control the enrollment this time." Hou Fang said

Zhang Hong looked distressed, and said: "To tell you the truth, the recruitment this time is not an ordinary difficulty!"

After he finished speaking, he said to a middle-aged man behind him: "Master Liu, tell me!"

The man surnamed Liu was named Liu Fulin, and he was the cousin of Liu Yongping, Pingzhang of Zhejiang Province before the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty.

Hou Fang, Zhang Hong, Liu Fulin, and others were all from Jiangsu-Zhejiang Confucian families, and now the imperial court's new academic examinations make them almost have no advantage in family education.

Therefore, Hou Fang went to the court to attack the new learning as false learning, and the Four Books and Five Classics are the real holy learning, just to restore the advantages of their Confucian family.

After all, in this year's imperial examination, few children from their Confucian families made it to the list.

They planned to find another way to set up a Dongshan College in Hangzhou to recruit traditional scholars, and then use their strong influence to create prestigious contacts for these traditional Confucian scholars, and then form a group of Confucian scholars from Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

As the saying goes, more people are more powerful, which in turn affects the imperial court's imperial examinations and re-emphasizes the Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism.

As long as they have enough reputation, their influence can radiate the whole Zhejiang, and even the surrounding provinces.

Chapter 474 Jiangsu and Zhejiang Confucianism

"Master Hou, I wonder how you will arrange this?"

Zhang Hong asked Hou Fang.

"Master Zhang, there are many Confucian scholars in Zhejiang, and they are quite critical of the imperial examination."

Speaking of this, Hou Fang paused, and continued: "So this time, I want to organize an academy, select some outstanding scholars from all over the country to enroll, and promote it in various provinces."

"Master Hou is wise!"

Zhang Hong quickly flattered him.

"Hehe!" Hou Fang smiled slightly, looked at Liu Fulin again, and said, "However, in the process of establishing the academy, you must pay attention to safety. The depth of water in Zhejiang is not comparable to other places."

These officials are not very afraid of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.

After all, because of Zhu Han's existence, Da Ming often solved some troubles without launching any thunder tactics at all.

Hou Fang, Liu Hong and others thought that by virtue of their identities as officials and scholars, they could create their own "Dongshan School" and influence the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang was really angry with these people!
After discussing with Zhu Han, Zhu Yuanzhang decided not to scare the snake, but sent Jin Yiwei to follow up and investigate secretly, wanting to see what amazing things these Jiangsu and Zhejiang Confucian families could do.

People in the officialdom like Hou Fang have always thought that they are very smart.

The reform of the imperial examination in Ming Dynasty made Hou Fang and others feel a deep sense of crisis.

He felt that he should no longer bear it like before, and must resist.

Therefore, he planned to pull officials from his department into the alliance camp, and jointly overthrow the new academic examinations of Ming Dynasty, and restore the situation of sharing the world with the scholar-bureaucrats.

. . . .

Yingtian, Imperial City, inside the Huangji Hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang held high on the throne, eyes slightly closed, holding a memorial in his right hand, patted his left palm time and time again, his face could not clearly see the joy and anger.

Under Majesty Dan, Zhu Han was sitting, and standing behind him were Li Shanchang, Song Lian, Liu Bowen, Tang He and other trusted ministers.

In the center of the main hall, Mao Xiang, the commander of Jinyiwei, is loudly reporting the results of Jinyiwei's investigation of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang aristocratic families headed by Hou Fang, the supervisor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Zhang Hong, the prefect of Hangzhou, and Liu Fulin, the chief envoy of Zhejiang.

"According to reports from hundreds of households in the Jinyiwei Zhejiang Guard Office, Hou Fang, Zhang Hong, and Liu Fulin have been found out. They wantonly embezzled the land of the people, allowed their families to oppress the good people, and bewitched local scholars to fight against the imperial court..."

"On the fourth day of May, Hou Fang's son tried to rape a civilian girl, and became angry with embarrassment. He wiped out his entire family and walked away. Hou Fang then discussed privately with Zhang Hong, the prefect of Hangzhou, and the matter was settled..."

"On May 30th, Zhang Hong conspired with Liu Fulin, the chief envoy of Zhejiang, to lie about Zhejiang's taxation and grain, and sell half of the taxation grain at a high price to the disaster-stricken areas in Shanxi and Henan, and received [-] taels of silver..."

"On the third day of May, Hou Fangyin gathered Zhang Hong, Liu Fulin and a group of former scholars and said..."

Speaking of this, Mao Xiang couldn't help swallowing: "Yan said, the king of England Zhu Han, rumors deceive the public, deceive the emperor, and your majesty is in a daze...It is not the blessing of the world..."

At this moment, the atmosphere was silent, mixed with a sense of depression.

Especially the last one reported by Mao Xiang made many people tremble with fear.

Zhu Han didn't care, anyway, he already knew these things.

Officials from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, such as Song Lian and Liu Bowen, were apprehensive. If they had known earlier, they would have said they would not be able to come today.

Although this matter has nothing to do with them, but no one wants to be implicated.

As for the Great Ming Derivative Gong Mingde and others, they were already in a war between the two, and they were sweating profusely.

They are all from Zhejiang, and they are almost recognized representatives of Zhejiang scholars in the imperial court on the bright side of Zhejiang.

They have countless disciples who have nothing to do with Zhang Hong, Liu Fulin, and Hou Fang. That's impossible!
As for Li Shanchang, he was also panicked.

Two days ago, when Li Shanchang handed Hou Fang's memorial to Zhu Yuanzhang, he wanted Zhu Yuanzhang to use some gentle means...

Now listening to Mao Xiang's report, Li Shanchang couldn't help but slap himself. He just thought that Hou Fangxiang was seeking some benefits in the court by restoring the imperial examination. Who knew he would do such a big thing? !

Especially gathering scholars to criticize the emperor, this is clearly the old birthday star eating arsenic, looking for death!

As for the other officials who have various relationships with Hou Fang and the other three, they also looked panicked at this time.

In fact, when Mao Xiang mentioned the previous charges, they still had the heart to argue for Hou Fang and the other three, but they should be careful about criticizing the Holy Majesty.

Not to mention how frightened the three of Li Shanchang were with many civil servants, Mao Xiang finally began to release the ultimate move.

So much so that his voice trembled a little: "On the second day of June, a fortune teller told Liu Fulin that the ancestral tomb of Jun's family has... dragon energy!"

boom!
The three of Li Shanchang only felt a thunderbolt explode in their heads!

Pfft!
Almost by coincidence, the officials from Jiangsu and Zhejiang knelt on the ground without saying a word, kowtowing frantically without saying a word.

Such rebellious words, just listening to them is a big mistake.

Those civil servants who were still preparing to persuade them before also looked the same, with endless kowtows.

What can be said?

At this moment, their life and death depended on Zhu Yuanzhang's thought.

Not to mention those who are related to Hou Fang and Liu Fulin.

The so-called dragon spirit in someone's ancestral grave is a big deal...

Unless the emperor is extremely magnanimous, if he doesn't care, a lie of a sorcerer will pass away, but if the emperor is serious, it will be considered treason!
As long as anyone has the slightest relationship with rebellion, one counts as one, and the nine clans deserve what they deserve.

At this moment, apart from the military generals in the Huangji Hall, almost half of the other civil servants knelt down, but the other half just frowned, their eyes flickering.

Mao Xiang, the commander of Jinyiwei, secretly raised his head and glanced at His Royal Highness, who was the head of the two civil and military squads.

Seeing His Royal Highness nodded calmly, he breathed a sigh of relief.

The sorcerer who said that Liu Fulin's family's ancestral grave had a dragon's aura was precisely Mao Xiang who, following Zhu Han's suggestion, found a Jinyiwei Elementary School to disguise himself. This is also a fishing law enforcement!
Looking at the civil servants standing or kneeling in front of him, Zhu Han just smiled coldly.

These civil servants, from the bottom of their hearts, still more or less look down on their elder brother who was born as a cowherd boy.

Now it's time to knock on their knees, let them understand that the world belongs to Zhu, and put away all the tricks that fooled the former Yuan court in the past!

Suddenly, an old and angry voice came: "Your Majesty! The commander of Jinyiwei, Mao Xiang, slandered the ministers of the court. His heart is to be punished. Please punish Mao Xiang and abolish Jinyiwei!"

Zhu Han was taken aback, he really wasn't afraid of death.

Looking up, it was immediately clear that it was Zuo Tongzheng and Huang Jiuyan.

This person is the son and daughter of Liu Fulin, the chief minister of Zhejiang Province, and he himself is also one of the elders of the Yuan Dynasty.

After Zhu Yuanzhang came to the throne, in order to stabilize the hearts of officials in various places, he would not refuse any officials of the former Yuan Dynasty who had no serious deeds, and the worst was to stay in their original positions.

This sent a wrong message to many former Yuan Yi elders. They thought that the reckless emperor didn't dare to offend his group of people, and they were counting on them to rule the world for him.

This kind of fanciful self-confidence gave them a lot of arrogance.

Later, when Zhu Han suggested that Zhu Yuanzhang greatly reform the imperial examinations, Huang Jiuyan was very dissatisfied, and led a group of ministers to submit papers to discourage him.

At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to kill him, but the time was not yet ripe, so he let him go lightly.

Unexpectedly, Huang Jiuyan only thought that Zhu Yuanzhang was regressing, which further strengthened his playful intention to oppose the reform of the imperial examination.

Even this time when Hou Fang, Zhang Hong, and Liu Fulin intended to form the "Dongshan Academy", it was Huang Jiuyan who pushed behind them, which gave them confidence.

Huang Jiuyan's message flashed through Zhu Han's mind, and the sneer at the corner of his mouth grew stronger.

On the throne, the elder brother Zhu Yuanzhang's expression was also extremely cold.

(End of this chapter)