Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 571 Confucianism is the original sin

Zhu Youjian remembers very clearly that what he said at the court meeting at that time was to let the governors of the foreign courts, the officials of various ministries in Beijing, and the chief ministers of the cabinet all present their political ideas in memorials, especially how to govern the Ming Empire if they became the chief ministers of the cabinet.

But Zhu Youjian didn't know whether the cabinet conveyed the wrong meaning, or the officials were still not used to expressing themselves directly.

The memorials that made officials recommend themselves as the chief assistant of the cabinet looked like memorials to please themselves on the surface.

Zhu Youjian tried his best to seriously read Ding Chukui's auspicious memorial.

But he had to admit that the opening chapter of Ding Chukui's Memorandum was really bad. Even if it is purely for the purpose of offering auspiciousness, half of the content is about how beautiful Baihe is. said a sentence:
"I know that I am dull and vulgar, and my academics are shallow, but if your Majesty does not give up, you may be able to be the head of the cabinet, so you must be loyal and cautious to serve your father!"

I only clicked on the last sentence, expressing that I want to be the chief assistant of the cabinet.

And if you become the chief minister of the cabinet, you will definitely be loyal to yourself, the emperor, and act cautiously.

Only now did Zhu Youjian understand that it wasn't that these Ming officials didn't want to be the chief assistant of the cabinet and dared not express themselves.

It's that they misunderstood what they meant, and at the same time, they instinctively liked to express in a self-deprecating way that they didn't really want to be the chief minister of the cabinet, but if they did, they would definitely not disappoint His Majesty and the people.

These officials think that the more auspicious they are to praise themselves as the king, the more modest they express themselves, the more likely they will become the next chief minister of the cabinet.
to be honest.

Zhu Youjian had a hard time reading Ding Chukui's memorial.

Zhu Youjian is not a person who is particularly strong in ancient Chinese, after all, he was born in science in later generations.

Now he can grit his teeth and read this full of nonsense, and even used eight parallel sentences to describe Bai He's demeanor, which is not easy.

Zhu Youjian was very tired.

But what made him even more tired was that he didn't see the slightest sign of Ding Chukui, the governor of Jiangxi, who was suitable to be the chief assistant of the cabinet.

Not to mention that the memorials are not written enough to understand the meaning.

Even in terms of understanding of the position of the chief assistant of the cabinet, they are lacking. They only know how to please the emperor, thinking that if they please the emperor, they will definitely get the position of chief assistant. .

"Loyalty and prudence are the virtues of being a minister. You should have it if you are not the chief minister of the cabinet, but even more so if you are the chief minister of the cabinet. This is not the most important thing. The most important thing is what he can do if he is the chief minister of the cabinet. I'm stupid and vulgar, and my academics are shallow, since I know I can't do it, why bother to write such useless self-recommended memorials!"

Zhu Youjian was so angry that he threw Ding Chukui's memorial on the table:

"Go and bring over all those memorials that offer auspiciousness. If what I expected is correct, these should be almost all their self-recommendations, but the self-recommendations have become flattering, as if I want them to praise me in the memorial. But clearly I want them to boast of me!"

Zuo Tongzheng and Wu Zhenyu couldn't help but blush and smiled awkwardly.

Because although his own self-recommended memorial is not offering auspiciousness, the content is almost to praise his majesty for his wisdom.

So when Zhu Youjian said this, he quietly stuffed his memorials into his sleeves, and put a bunch of memorials submitted by other officials in front of Zhu Youjian.

Although Zhu Youjian knew that these memorials were probably almost the same as Ding Chukui's memorials, they were full of nonsense and the words did not convey the meaning.

But he still wanted to grit his teeth and read on as much as possible.

He didn't believe that he couldn't find one or two officials suitable for the chief minister of the cabinet from so many memorials.

It's a pity that Zhu Youjian looked at it for a long time and didn't see any valuable ones.

Some first praised their achievements as the emperor, and then stated that they would be very lucky if they could become the chief minister of the cabinet.

Some praised the entire Ming Dynasty, and then said that if they became the chief assistant of the cabinet, they would definitely make His Majesty go far beyond Yao and Shun, and become a holy king through the ages.

Some said that being the chief assistant of the cabinet will definitely make people in the world be filial to their parents, be respectful to brothers and sisters, be loyal, filial, benevolent and righteous.

The more Zhu Youjian watched, the more irritable he became. He didn't know what these high-ranking Ming officials were thinking.

"It's really a group of guys who eat vegetarian meals. These people who have read books for decades, have they seriously thought about what they want to do for Daming? Don't they just read the Four Books and Five Classics?"

Zhu Youjian himself couldn't help laughing, and said in his heart: "It seems that since the beginning of his career, he has indeed read the Four Books and Five Classics, and the exams are also the Four Books and Five Classics."

Before this.

Zhu Youjian seldom cared about the overall quality of the administration of officials, especially the officials of Ming Dynasty.

After all, there have been various internal and external troubles before.

But now that the world is basically stable, especially at this moment, he realizes that the officials of Ming Dynasty are so incompetent. What is the political ideal.

The culprit of all this is Confucianism!

Confucian Neo-Confucianism has only cultivated a bunch of gentlemen, even hypocrites who are sanctimonious and hypocritical, but it has not clearly taught a Confucian scholar how to become a good official.

Zhu Youjian was very disappointed and left the Secretary of General Administration. He now understands why he, an ordinary university student and civil servant in a later society, can still play tricks with these guys in this era.

There is no other reason. In today's Ming Dynasty, after the study of mind was suppressed by Neo-Confucianism, the officials of the Ming Dynasty no longer know how to actively think about what they should do for the country. In their eyes, the chief minister of the cabinet It's just a symbol of political status, and I don't know what I need to do to sit in this official position.

"Your Majesty, this is Li Mingrui's self-recommendation booklet." Zhu Youjian got Li Mingrui's self-recommendation booklet. Seeing that there were no more auspicious words and praises for him in the booklet, he didn't say that he might not be suitable to be the chief minister of the cabinet. What kind of goals would I have if I became the chief minister of the cabinet.

"Let Daming add another province within three years, and let every citizen of Daming have enough to eat within five years!"

Zhu Youjian finally laughed: "This is the self-recommendation that an official should have. You just need to tell yourself what you want Daming to become, and even talk about your past achievements, but don't write all nonsense. .”

Zuo Tongzheng Wu Zhenyu couldn't help secretly rejoicing that fortunately he could know what His Majesty really wanted in advance, otherwise he would have been thrown on the ground by His Majesty and passed by the chief minister of the cabinet.

However, Zhu Youjian was too lazy to announce his views clearly. In his opinion, perhaps the officials of Ming Dynasty would understand after experiencing some things that the empire no longer needed well-behaved officials without souls.

(End of this chapter)