Chapter 140 Heresy
In general, apart from Zhang Taiyue's neurotic worry, no one could see any signs of decline in the court's affairs.
In September of that year, after being equipped with new weapons, Qi Yuanjing mobilized the reorganized border troops to go out of the border to defend against the autumn; he abandoned the heavy armored cavalry that had cost a lot of money in the past, and personally led the elite light cavalry to attack the strong and weak, and with the help of the powerful effect of firearms, he quickly tore through the defense line, set fire to the fertile grasslands of Mongolia and returned. The autumn weather was clear and cool with little rain, and with the help of the new type of kerosene (thanks again to the legendary alchemist Shen Yunzi), the flames on the grassland lasted for dozens of days. The red light rose across the sky, as if a second sun had emerged from the flat ground, and could be clearly seen from hundreds of miles away. All the vegetation and livestock were burned to ashes, and there was no way to feed the war horses. The war potential of Mobei quickly collapsed, and it might be impossible to recover within a few years.
In October of that year, a merchant caravan departing from Guangdong encountered Spanish ships. The two sides had their own disagreements, and a small-scale conflict quickly broke out. After the Da'an court clearly released its hostility towards the Western colonists, the overlord Spain was uneasy and also planned fierce revenge. Luzon was remote and not suitable for large-scale mobilization of fleets. Therefore, the empire borrowed the ideas of the English and issued privateering licenses to merchants close to Europe, allowing them to rob Chinese merchant ships at will, trying to put pressure on Da'an with wolf pack tactics and create a wound that would never heal.
This trick was originally quite useful, and was one of the best ways to drag someone into a pit of cesspool and make them roll around. Unfortunately, the Spaniards really ignored the progress of military technology in East Asia and the speed of its spread. In theory, rocket technology such as Feixuan Zhenjun was fully owned by the imperial court and could not be leaked to private individuals. However, everyone knew the execution ability of the Da'an government. With the rapid expansion of firearms production lines, some poorly guarded inferior weapons were naturally spread out and spread to wealthy maritime merchants through trade.
Because of this, when the excited European pirates smelled the blood and came to hunt, what they faced was not the boarding battles and cold weapon fights they had imagined, but an overwhelming attack of low-quality rockets.
——All in all, the brutal scene was quite unpleasant.
Of course, before European businessmen clearly realize the proliferation of Chinese weapons, they will probably have to encounter many more setbacks and more brutality and bloodshed. But in any case, this small victory was enough to make the central government happy and regard it as a great omen for future victory in the war against Spain. The current Emperor Feixuan Zhenjun, who strongly advocates war against the West, is regarded as a wise leader with profound insight, foresight and vision beyond the reach of ordinary people.
The prestige of the imperial court always lies in military achievements. The wars in the north and south are going so smoothly, the people's livelihood in the country is peaceful and stable without any disturbances, both inside and outside the country are so safe and peaceful, who can not sincerely praise it as the days of Yao and Shun, and the sun of Da'an is at its peak? Even if history books are carefully written in the future, I am afraid that we can only honestly admit that it was a "well-governed era" - as for the emperor's arrogance and extravagance, and the imbalance between internal and external affairs, they can only be regarded as minor flaws in the context of a well-governed era, and are actually not worth mentioning.
Of course, amidst this historic and prosperous backdrop, there are occasionally some discordant notes. For example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently conducted a secret investigation and found that the market in the capital was expanding rapidly with the establishment of workshops. The surging demand greatly stimulated the emerging entertainment industry, and the number of published books was almost doubling. There are a huge number of books, tabloids and storybooks, all mixed together and difficult to count, but after a rapid expansion of demand and the elimination of the good, the quality of products has surprisingly improved subtly. In addition to the large number of vulgar articles that are not worth reading, some strange and unspeakable remarks and Confucian booklets that are not tolerated by the mainstream have begun to circulate secretly in the market. For example, in a certain book "Four Books with Comments" signed by "Zixu", based on the "Yao and Shun are the same as human beings" in "Mencius", he deduced the astonishing view that "everyone can be Yao and Shun", which is much more radical and terrifying than the "Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers different in kind?"
The so-called "kings, princes, generals, and ministers" were nothing more than nobles and high-ranking officials of the time; but Yao and Shun were saints, emperors, and ancient kings whose words were enough to serve as a law for all ages - "everyone can be Yao and Shun", what do you want to do?
Such a dangerous idea was actually spread everywhere in the court without any hindrance, and no one from top to bottom heard a news about it. If Hanlin scholar Zhang Taiyue had not accidentally come across a leaflet when he went to Xizhimen to exchange old books, I am afraid that everyone inside and outside the central government would have been kept in the dark. When the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent people to investigate carefully, they found that similar booklets had already been spread out of control, spreading all over the capital like the spring breeze.
Such a heretical and treasonous article should have been reported to the court and severely punished. But Zhang Taiyue, who discovered this, was in a dilemma and hesitated to make a decision. After all, the time that Zhenjun spent in confinement in the Western Garden was getting longer and longer, and his behavior was abnormal due to taking medicine and practicing Taoism. It was difficult for the outer court to guess the emperor's intentions. Everyone was afraid of walking on thin ice and dared not report it easily. In addition, these new leaflets could be printed in large quantities and spread quickly, mostly relying on the new papermaking and printing technology that spread from the Duke Mu's Mansion. If the emperor got angry and investigated too much, it might affect the Duke's Mansion and even directly involve the prince himself...
So, after thinking for a long time, Zhang Taiyue put the detailed memorial into a city defense repair report of more than 500 pages, put it in a box and handed it over.
Anyway, the country is peaceful now, so even if there are some heresies, it won’t be a big deal...right?
·
Although he secretly had this lucky thought, Zhang Taiyue was always hesitant and couldn't let go of it. He sent an official document to the Jingzhao Yin Yamen, asking them to strictly manage the bookstores in various places (of course, with the Jingzhao Yin's administrative ability, the effect of this document was tantamount to fart); he also often took detours to the West City Gate and the second-hand book and antique markets in the suburbs of Beijing to try to find out the details of these leaflets.
And the facts developed just as expected. After the official suppression failed, the underground publishing market spread like wildfire, and the cultural products cultivated became more and more thrilling and terrifying. The obscene and vulgar pornographic books were just appetizers. Booklets discussing the nobles of Da'an and even directly exposing the Zhu family's past were printed. The leaked historical materials were extremely explosive and wild, and a considerable part of them pointed directly to the core of imperial power, involving a lot of past events such as Taizong's Jingnan Rebellion and Yingzong's knocking on the door. It is so sensitive and spicy that it can make people break out in cold sweats; even Master Zhang finds it difficult to withstand it. But the most ferocious and terrifying ones are those pamphlets about "Everyone can be Yao and Shun", which are more powerful than anything else.
Among the leaflets that Zhang Xueshi found, these pamphlets expounding new Confucianism were repeated over a very short period of time. At first, these articles were quite profound and obscure, with a lot of quotations from the Book of History, the Book of Changes, and ancient anecdotes, to prove their own views from the perspective of Confucian economics; but after two or three editions, the content of the leaflets began to become simple and straightforward, interspersed with a lot of secular colloquialisms and vernacular, and the cases cited also changed from the Three Tombs and Five Classics to simple and familiar allusions, and even included content from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, and even The Mortal's Journey to Immortality...
In the orthodox academic field, this kind of ambiguous approach would be so vulgar and laughable that serious Confucian scholars would easily expel it from Confucianism. However, in the eyes of sufficiently perceptive politicians, this is precisely the disseminator's deliberate lowering of his status, trying to expand his influence, bypassing the old-fashioned scholar class, and spreading the new doctrine directly to the streets.
The ethics of debate is just an academic debate, but what kind of behavior is it to directly spread fatal theories?
Anyway, this is not just to make some copyright fees. Zhang Taiyue thought about it over and over again, feeling uneasy. Finally, he took a bunch of the most sensitive underground leaflets he had collected and quietly went to the Duke Mu's Mansion.
Prince Mu flipped through the book and immediately got angry:
"'The Mu family is the real mastermind behind every war?" Mu Qi read the leaflet's outrageous title aloud, furious: "Absurd! Nonsense! Pure slander!"
He angrily crumpled the flyer into a ball and threw it into the incense burner, burning it to ashes.
...To be honest, Zhang Taiyue did not think that the leaflet was ridiculous and slanderous, but he certainly could not refute it in front of his superiors, so he had to remain silent. He waited until the prince took two deep breaths before handing out the most crucial pamphlet that advocated that "everyone can be Yao and Shun."
The prince read a few pages carefully and gradually became confused. He read it again, then looked up at Zhang Taiyue:
"What do you want to do with this? I don't understand any Confucian academic debates."
"Of course, I dare not use the opinions of Confucian scholars to blaspheme the eyes and ears of the court." Zhang Hanlin said hurriedly: "It's just that the views here are really a bit out of line. If the Jinyiwei investigates..."
Yes, although Zhang Hanlin was shocked by the outrageous arguments in the leaflet and could not accept it, he had long adhered to the usual style of Da'an bureaucrats and would never cross the line in such trivial matters and bring trouble upon himself; writing to Jingzhao Yin to remind them was the bottom line of Zhang's duty, and as for doing anything unnecessary, there was no need to do so.
But now, things have changed subtly. If it was still difficult to understand before, it would be fine; but now - now the content of the leaflets is becoming simpler and more straightforward, and the scope of its dissemination is getting wider; one day, these fatal viewpoints will be simplified to the point where even the Jinyiwei can understand them. Once the Jinyiwei reported this matter to the palace, it might detonate the extremely dangerous bomb of Master Feixuan, and blow up the unprepared cabinet and the foreign affairs department, leaving them covered in blood...
Even if it was out of the instinct of self-preservation, Master Zhang had no choice but to tip off his superiors. We were all in the same boat, so we had to be prepared.
As expected, the prince's expression turned serious. He flipped through the booklet again and nodded solemnly.
"Everyone can be a Yao or Shun, and become a saint in this lifetime... Well, 'Billions of people in China are Shuns and Yaos', and the best figures are only seen today; this is really a very radical view..."
——See, even the prince can easily understand this fatal academic theory! If even the prince can understand it, is there anything that the Royal Guards don't understand? ! The risk is imminent!
...However, Zhang Taiyue endured for a moment, but still couldn't suppress his instinctive curiosity as a scholar:
"'The Divine Land is full of Shun and Yao', is this a poem written by the prince? It is very impressive, can you please teach me the full text?"
The prince was silent for a moment, then admitted confidently:
"No, I copied it."
Zhang Taiyue: ...Ah?
"This kind of stuff is indeed outrageous, but there are so many outrageous and crazy things in the world." The prince said, "There is no telling how many articles there are on the market now. If the Jinyiwei checked them one by one, the current funds would probably not even be enough to buy books."
"But……"
"Besides, the imperial court should be more generous. They are all ignorant and crazy people. It is normal for them to say shocking things. 'Burn down the Broken Sword Gate and the pavilion, and Chengdu will be a different world.' In today's bright world, we can't be worse than Renzong!"
The prince racked his brains and used an allusion from the Zhao and Song dynasties. During the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty, a madman wrote a poem on Jianmen Pass: "Break Jianmen Pass and burn the plank towers, and Chengdu will be a different world." It was clearly an attempt to instigate the Chengdu defenders to cut off external communications and establish their own independent regime. His rebellious words angered the Song court, and they immediately arrested him and put him in prison. But when Emperor Renzong heard about this, he said that this was just a poor man who wanted to become an official. He ordered the man to be released and rewarded him with a small official position, thus calming the storm quietly.
Judging from the story of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty, this argument is really nothing. Anyway, there are many frustrated and crazy people in the world. They read too much and become stupid, so they pursue fame and fortune, and often make such inexplicable and shocking remarks. If you really want to be fussy, you won't care about so many things.
Zhang Taiyue did not answer again.
...To be honest, based on what Mr. Zhang believes deep in his heart, under the current situation, this kind of knowledge that advocates that everyone can become a saint may be even more terrifying than the speech that incites rebellion and separatism...But now, his superiors have made the decision, so why should he say more?
·
In general, with some seemingly intentional or unintentional connivance, the prosperous underground printing market in the capital has basically not suffered any impact and is still spreading rapidly. Of course, this spread has its limits. The imperial power's spies inside and outside the country are by no means fools. One day they will realize that something is wrong and issue a critical warning to the emperor.
However, at this time, something bigger and more critical happened by chance, which quickly grabbed the center's attention and covered up all the intelligence:
After a long period of skirmishes, the war with Spain finally broke out.
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