Glancing at Chen Hong who was standing beside him, Zhu Youxiao asked softly, "What's the matter?"

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Guards have sent a message. Something went wrong during Mr. Chen Kedao's lecture today."

Zhu Youxiao nodded.

It's normal when something happens. If nothing happens, it would be abnormal.

Glancing at Chen Hong, Zhu Youxiao asked, "What happened?"

"Your Majesty, someone first came up to the stage to argue with Mr. Chen, and then a conflict broke out between the two sides. Some people wanted to attack Mr. Chen, and some even shouted that they wanted to imitate Confucius and execute Shao Zhengmao. The lecture was in chaos for a while. Jinyiwei Commander Luo Sigong led his men to escort Mr. Chen away."

As he spoke, Chen Hong looked at Zhu Youxiao cautiously, wanting to see how the emperor would react.

However, Chen Hong was soon disappointed because Zhu Youxiao did not react at all and continued to sit there drinking tea with an expressionless face.

In fact, Zhu Youxiao had long anticipated that everyone would want to get rid of Chen Kedao.

Because Zhu Youxiao knew what Chen Kedao was going to talk about, he also knew what kind of waves Chen Kedao would cause as soon as he started lecturing.

Since this is what Zhu Youxiao wanted to do, it is not surprising that someone wanted to kill Chen Kedao.

Political disputes are never bloodless, so this outcome is not surprising.

However, Chen Kedao did not expect that some people would call for following Confucius' example and killing Shao Zhengmao, because this matter was not a glorious one in the first place.

There is another reason for this matter, which is that many people do not admit it.

The first person to record this incident was Xunzi.

According to Xunzi, Confucius had only been in Lu for seven days when the Minister of Justice (Sikou) acted as Prime Minister. He executed Shao Zhengmao, a senior official of the state, because he was guilty of five evil deeds and, in addition to gathering people in his home to promote heresy and curry favor, he was a villain among villains, and therefore his execution was unavoidable.

Later books such as "Yin Wenzi", "Shuo Yuan" and "Kongzi Jiayu" all quoted Xunzi's statement and believed that Confucius killed Shao Zhengmao.

However, Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty believed that Confucius did not kill Shao Zhengmao, and many scholars agreed with this view.

The main reasons are:

First, the works of the various philosophers are mostly fables, making them unreliable. Works such as Zuo Zhuan, Guoyu, the Analects, and Mencius, which predate Xunzi, do not mention this incident. Furthermore, Zuo Zhuan and Guoyu often slander Confucius and do not mention this incident, indicating that Confucius never killed Shao Zhengmao in history.

Second, Confucius served as prime minister for only seven days. It was impossible for a doctor to kill another doctor.

Third, Confucius advocated benevolence and firmly opposed killing people lightly. When the doctor Lu proposed the idea of ​​"killing the unjust in order to kill the just", Confucius expressed his opposition.

The killing of Shao Zhengmao was inconsistent with Confucius' consistent thinking.

Therefore, in the matter of Chen Kedao's lectures, it was inappropriate for Neo-Confucianism to shout slogans such as Confucius killed Shao Zhengmao.

Because their leader, Zhu Xi, denied this, and many Neo-Confucianists also agreed with this denial.

So this time, they shouldn't use this as a slogan.

This reminded Zhu Youxiao of a word, that is, stupid teammate.

Just like the reforms in the Song Dynasty, the conservatives attacked the reformists for forming cliques and pursuing personal interests. As a result, someone submitted a document called "On Factions", and that person was Ouyang Xiu.

In "On Factions", Ouyang Xiu explicitly admitted that factions existed, and then discussed them in great detail.

In reality, who cares what kind of clique you are? As long as you're a clique, you're unacceptable to the leadership. No matter how high-sounding your words are, no one will believe them.

Gently tapping the armrest of the chair, Zhu Youxiao felt that he seemed to be able to move.

Glancing at Chen Hong standing beside him, Zhu Youxiao instructed, "Do you still have the copy of Zhu Tongmeng's exam paper from last time?"

After hearing Zhu Youxiao's question, Chen Hong quickly said, "Your Majesty, it's still there."

Many of the imperial memorials were kept in the palace and not sent out, meaning they had been read but not replied to. The final fate of these memorials was to be sent outside and burned, so they would not be kept for very long.

But the copy of the petition that Zhu Youxiao mentioned was different. This copy had always been kept.

Although I also stayed in China, the situation was different.

At that time, Chen Hong was wondering what the point of the emperor leaving such a memorial was. Now it seems that it is indeed useful.

Zhu Youxiao nodded and ordered directly: "Send this memorial to Yu Maoheng, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate."

This was also a test for Yu Maoheng by Zhu Youxiao.

Yu Maoheng was not a member of the Donglin Party, nor did he curry favor with them, and was ostracized in the Censorate. However, Zhu Youxiao promoted him in order to appease the Censorate.

But sometimes, just comforting is useless, you also have to do things.

This was Zhu Youxiao's test of Yu Maoheng. If he could do his job well and knew how to serve the emperor, then this person could be promoted and given an important position.

As for not having anyone under your command, this problem is very easy to solve.

Chen Hong didn't know why the emperor asked him to hand this memorial over to Yu Maoheng, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, but he knew that since the emperor had given such instructions, something big must be about to happen.

He quickly bowed and said, "I'll do it right away."

Looking at Chen Hong's back, Zhu Youxiao smiled.

I'm afraid Zhu Tongmeng didn't expect it to play such a role when he wrote it. After the incident, Zhu Tongmeng himself must have been shocked.

However, after this matter is over, I can consider promoting Zhu Tongmeng.

As the saying goes, merit should be rewarded, and it also shows my attitude: You have to learn from him! If you don't learn from him, how can I promote you?

The power of this kind of example is infinite and is often used by leaders.

However, the rewards given by leaders must be liked by people so that they can motivate those who come after them.

There will always be brave men when there is a big reward, so the reward must be big.

Zhu Youxiao was thinking about how to reward Zhu Tongmeng so that he would have countless followers.

At this time, Chen Hong had already arrived at the Censorate and met the Censor-in-Chief Yu Maoheng as soon as possible.

Although this was not the first time the two people had dealt with each other, they were not very familiar with each other.

The last time Chen Hong wanted to play a trick of providing timely assistance, he was interrupted by Zhu Youxiao. Chen Hong then knew that the emperor was dissatisfied with this matter.

Since that time, Chen Hong naturally never had any contact with Yu Maoheng again, so the two were still a little awkward when they met.

However, after a few simple polite words, the atmosphere became much better.

Yu Maoheng didn't beat around the bush and asked directly, "I wonder what brings you here, sir?"

Chen Hong didn't say anything and just put a question book in front of Yu Maoheng.

Yu Maoheng was stunned for a moment, but still subconsciously picked up the test book.