Chapter 28 Discussion
Mu Qi staggered out of the gate of the West Garden, his mind still swaying like a pool of muddy water. He almost thought that he had had an absurd dream. What about raising money for coastal defense, what about Lao Deng who was reasonable and willing to sacrifice his own flesh? It was really confusing and confusing, making him confused and unable to control himself...
This can't be true?
There were about 100 to 200 important officials and sons of nobles who came to the Western Garden for the meeting, and probably 70 to 80 percent of them had the same magical feeling. So everyone gathered at the gate of Xiyuan, hundreds of people looked at each other, and no one dared to speak loudly.
I'm not afraid that Lao Deng will go crazy or become insane. What I'm afraid of is that Lao Deng will become mentally disturbed and don't play by the rules. Judging from everyone's common sense, the fact that Master Feixuan actually asked for money from the inner treasury was so crazy and magical that it had really surpassed all previous experiences and reached the point where everyone was terrified!
...Should I find a doctor to take a look?
However, Lao Deng’s mental state is still unknown, but at least his physical state is very stable. While the important ministers were waiting outside, the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict summoned the cabinet elders and handed them a note written by the emperor himself, which roughly stated the main points of the speech he had just given at the court meeting, and asked the cabinet to "decided it as soon as possible" - it was written in black and white and could not be denied; the cabinet obeyed the order, revised and deliberated with the six ministries, and then drafted the final edict. The 900,000 taels of silver in the inner treasury were then firmly deposited into the account.
Of course, the old Taoist priest was shooting at straws, and in the note he also talked a lot about the "filial piety and brotherly love" of the Taimiao reform. Xiang Zhuang's sword dance was aimed at Pei Gong, and the implication was obvious - I grit my teeth and pay one million taels of silver every year, so it's time for my own father to go to the Taimiao and eat a bowl of cold pork, right?
At this point, the cabinet certainly has no room for compromise. Besides, Master Feixuan secretly buried such a foreshadowing in the edict, and all the important officials in the court read it one by one, and they all felt a sense of relief.
——That’s great. The old Taoist priest is still the selfish, hypocritical old Taoist priest who disregards rules and never fails to take advantage of others. The affairs of the court are still running on the messed-up track that they are familiar with. No matter how serious the aftermath of going astray or taking the wrong elixir was, at least it had not changed Lao Deng's mean and ungrateful nature. Their experience could continue to be used without paying the price of blood to adjust a new Lao Deng with a changed temperament.
Once your mindset changes, your perspective on things will change. In the face of the emperor's hypochondria, such trivial matters as the Imperial Ancestral Temple were insignificant. After expressing his gratitude, Prime Minister Xia accepted the edict and called the officials from the six ministries to the cabinet to discuss matters. However, intentionally or unintentionally, he omitted the great scholar from the Ministry of Rites - the matter of repairing the Taimiao and changing the temple name should have been decided by the scholars. But after the "History of Yuan Dynasty" incident, people in the court and the country were still in fear, and were really afraid of the supernatural powers of the great scholars.
Even Emperor Gaozu was forced to wear the label of "thief monk" for hundreds of years; if you tamper with the temple name of the emperor's father, how can you survive?
The division of labor had been decided, and the ministers in the court dispersed in silence, probably rushing back home to secretly discuss this earth-shaking change in the court with their staff. Mu Qi left the gate of Xiyuan in a daze. Before he could sort out the confusion in his mind, he was stopped by Yan Xiaoge Lao who was waiting at the side:
"Brother Mu, according to the emperor's order just now, the situation of tribute will change drastically!"
The Little Cabinet Master is the Little Cabinet Master. Even though the emperor has become so confused and disoriented, the Little Cabinet Master is still working diligently, never forgetting his original intention, and firmly thinking about his ambition of making money and gaining power. He had just thought it over thoroughly and believed that Master Feixuan's order was indeed a great benefit to the tribute, enough to expand power and monopolize financial resources, and become the cornerstone of his future success.
As I said, the young minister is a natural money-maker and his sense of money is unparalleled. Even without the inside information from the Heavenly Book, he was still keenly aware of the staggering profits from overseas trade during his battles with the enemies from Goryeo and Japan over the past half month - with such profits in hand, what else in the world could not be accomplished?
Government is like business. If you want the people below to be obedient and the people to be content, you have to spend a lot of money. What's more, now that the Prime Minister has abdicated, Lord Yan is at a critical juncture for progress?
In the past, the Yan family made a lot of money through corruption, bribery, and commissions from projects, but the money was not earned legally after all, and they could be captured at any time by Master Feixuan. Where else could the tribute trade be so easy, convenient and free of pollutants?
Such a lucrative, easy and powerful job is bound to attract the covetousness of outsiders. So the young cabinet minister went straight to work, and immediately went to have tea with the prince to discuss matters, and revealed his true colors - we can discuss how to divide the fruits among ourselves, but we must unite to defend ourselves from external humiliation when brothers quarrel, and we must do so at the critical moment!
The Prince of Duke Mu was also very straightforward and generously agreed to the young minister's request. He only said that he was entrusted by someone to recommend a few people to visit Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and would have to ask the young minister for help at that time.
The young minister immediately agreed: "That's nothing! Brother Mu is too polite. I dare not agree to a prefect or above; below the prefect, I will do whatever you say. How can I let you worry about Jiangnan's affairs?"
The Yan Party has strong influence in Jiangnan and is indeed qualified to open this port. As long as the Yan family keeps their promise, things will be much easier whether it is setting up a militia or clearing out the Japanese pirates. Mu Qi smiled slightly, but then acted awkwardly:
"How can I dare to hope for a position like the prefect? It would be fine if I could gain experience as a county magistrate. However, people who go there to gain experience are always impatient. I'm afraid they will run into trouble..."
Yan Donglou understood it as soon as he heard it. How could a person who can gain experience through the channel of Duke Mu’s Mansion be an ordinary official? He has seen many ruthless people who are full of progress. They are either capable ministers or efficient officials, or honest and upright officials. They act fiercely and violently without leaving any room for maneuver, and often stir up earth-shaking turmoil in the local area.
But no matter how powerful and tough you are, it will all end at this point. He is just a local county magistrate. No matter how strong and experienced he is, can he really turn the world of the capital upside down? At most, he could ask the local Yan party to tolerate each other for the sake of the country and make more concessions for the sake of the Duke's Mansion - such a small matter is not worth his attention.
Of course, when the capital city is truly turned upside down in the future, the complacent young cabinet minister will probably understand - he really should think more about it now!
·
After the deal was done, Mu Qi personally poured a glass of hot wine for Yan Donglou and said with a smile:
"It was dangerous to say the least. When I was impeached by that bastard Zhou, I was worried that the censors would swarm over me and beat me up again. Brother Yan knows that the censors pride themselves on being noble and have always hated tribute trade. They love to make random accusations about foreign vassal states..."
The six departments of the Imperial Censors were united as one, and they had always been able to mobilize thousands of people to respond and use their numbers to bully the minority and attack from all sides. They also had the privilege of submitting memorials to the emperor, which was granted by Emperor Gaozu. If Zhou Zhicheng could really arouse the interest of this group of people, then no matter how good or bad, he would definitely let Prince Mu feel the horror of being cyber-bullied hundreds of years in advance - the worst thing is that the censors "report things based on hearsay" and they don't even need to provide evidence when they criticize people!
When a group of civil servants who are united in not considering evidence and who do not take responsibility for making wrong comments come together, one can imagine the destructive power they can cause. That is to say, now Lao Deng is very good at political tactics and can still control those below him. When Lao Deng's beloved grandson Bai Zong comes to power, the censors will simply transform into walking text □□, bullying everyone from top to bottom, and even making the cabinet piss and piss themselves in fear. Censors can harm the country to such an extent.
The young cabinet minister snorted, obviously still feeling frightened. "That bunch of sour people are really incapable of accomplishing anything, but more likely to cause trouble than accomplishing anything! How can people like them be considered noble? The reason they are so dissatisfied with the tribute is just because they suffered a great loss when they went to the West to open up maritime trade before!"
The money-making saint has a unique vision and is indeed different from ordinary people. He did not care about the "ancestral system" and "rituals and laws" that the censors kept talking about, but saw through the essence of their anger at a glance - why were the censors so disgusted with maritime trade? Because Emperor Taizong made six voyages to the West, and all the money he earned was spent in Mobei; and the salary paid to the low-level civil servants was actually some pepper-cumin glass balls bought from overseas!
To be honest, this method is really unethical. Pepper and cumin are indeed precious spices, but how can a small civil servant have the channels to sell spices? When buying and selling spices, you would be ripped off by the merchants, and your salary would be reduced by half. Working hard but having wages deducted, the resentment of workers throughout the ages is so deep and cruel that it might even wake up Emperor Gaozu.
Eunuch Sanbao went to the West six times, and the pepper, cumin and glass balls only served as his salary for several decades. The PTSD left by the civil servants spread for a long time and eventually accumulated into an inexplicable resentment towards maritime trade.
It's just that Zhou Zhicheng's reputation is too bad, otherwise people would have responded in unison to show you two how powerful the trolls are.
Mu Qi pondered and said, "Brother Yan has a point. But it's just that there are too many things going on in the court these days, and the censors are too busy to take care of it, so they don't bother to impeach. But the night is long and dreams are many, so it's better to make some plans."
Tribute trade is not something that can be achieved overnight. If the censors take time to react and bite again, it will cause serious trouble.
The young minister was very modest: "Please give me some advice, my lord."
"I dare not." Mu Qi said, "I think we should find something for the censors to do, so that they won't be bored and stare at the maritime trade every day. We have already asked for permission to implement the examination of the imperial poems among the diplomatic corps of foreign countries. However, the emperor's poems are exquisite and profound after all, and it is common for barbarians to find it difficult to understand. The saints always work hard to educate the people. I think we can let the idle censors write some experiences of appreciating poems, compile and sell them, which can also be regarded as an example for the vassal states..."
He paused and added:
"This is also an idea I came up with by chance. I don't know if it is feasible. I think we can follow the example of the imperial examination and ask them to compile a few tutorial materials, such as "Three Years of Qingci, Five Years of Simulation", "Secret Scrolls of the Capital", etc., and then have the official recommend them uniformly..."
No need to explain anything further. Nowadays, the imperial examination is very popular, and relevant materials and model essays are plentiful. There are even people who specialize in providing tutoring and guiding candidates to pass the exam. The young minister has lived in the capital for a long time, so of course he knows all the ins and outs!
What is the best-selling book in the world? Of course it’s teaching materials!
What is the best-selling book in the world? Of course, it is the teaching materials whose copyright has been monopolized!
The imperial examination had to be open, fair and just, and required that every word in the essay have a source; but the Qingci examination was left to the laoden to set questions at will, and hundreds of civil servants to correct them at will. The right of interpretation belongs solely to Lao Deng, while the right of annotation is monopolized by civil servants; as long as the version is revised regularly, you can sit back and share the profits. Is there any business in the world that is easier, more convenient, and requires less brainpower than this?
The young cabinet minister's face changed instantly: He had been making money for decades, but he had no idea that there were such shameless strategies in the world!
"The imperial court is rich, so there is no need to argue with the censors about that little bit of income." Mu Qi said slowly: "The income from teaching materials can be distributed to them as subsidies, which is also considerate of their hard work. But of course, this kind of income can only be maintained if the teaching materials are sold well overseas..."
It is obvious that only when maritime trade is prosperous will the vassal states actively study Qingci; only when they actively study Qingci will they be willing to spend money to purchase expensive materials that are updated every year. In other words, all the profits and allowances of the censors were tied to the rolling merchant ships in maritime trade.
Want royalties? Want a perk? Go and find it, Master Feixuan has placed it all on the sea!
——For a little pepper and cumin, and for the salary discounts given by the Zhu emperor, the censors gnashed their teeth and held a grudge in their hearts, biting at the maritime trade system for hundreds of years. Their fighting power was so fierce and wild that even the emperor was surprised. Now that profits are rolling in that are several times or even dozens of times greater, how should the censors react?
My Lords, you don't want to go back to those days of poverty and destitution, do you?
The young cabinet minister was stunned for a moment. After being shocked, he could only mutter: "This method..."
"This method was also inspired by Mr. Gui in my mansion." The prince was quite humble: "After chatting with Mr. Gui, I learned about the market. Now that scholars gather in Beijing, the business of selling collections and pamphlets is very hot. It is not an exaggeration to make a fortune every day..."
This sentence is absolutely correct. Reading about it in history books is one thing, and experiencing it personally is another. It was only after Mu Qi had a detailed conversation with Gui Zhenchuan that he realized how popular the imperial examination economy was at that time. There is no need to talk about the conventional tutoring materials and tutoring classes. For example, the analysis of the question-setting patterns of the predicted papers and the surprise papers, except that information technology cannot replicate them, basically all the tricks that could be used in later generations have now been rolled out, and some are even new and unexpected. Mu Qi even heard that some scholars collected the articles of the bigwigs of the Ministry of Rites over the years, analyzed them one by one in detail, and tried to use human big data to simulate the style of this year's questions.
Human beings can always come up with endless creativity when it comes to passing the civil service exams, and our ancestors were never deceiving us.
With such rich and profound experience as a foundation, it would be really easy to replicate some of the Qingci tutoring.
Mu Qi smiled shyly and poured a glass of wine for the young elder who was in shock and thought:
"These are just my superficial opinions, just for fun. But I think, in this way, no one should dare to mess with the maritime trade, right?"
·
In the past few days, Wu Cheng'en, a lay Buddhist from Sheyang, has been feeling a little depressed.
Living in the capital is not easy. A failed scholar traveled thousands of miles to the prosperous capital to visit relatives and friends and look for opportunities. The daily travel expenses alone were a huge expense. Although friends are supposed to share their money with each other, Li Jurong, the elder Li, often gave him some subsidies, but he couldn't just eat and drink for free at his old friend's house. He had been wandering around these days, thinking about finding a job.
Perhaps it was a blessing from heaven, but one day after he asked someone for information, a well-dressed bookseller came to visit him and specifically asked to read his Journey to the West.
Mr. Sheyang is an expert at storytelling and is somewhat famous in his hometown. However, he did not expect that the wealthy merchants in the capital were so well-informed that they could even find out about his unfinished "Journey to the West". Wu Cheng'en was flattered, but he repeatedly declined, saying that the book had not yet been revised and he was afraid of polluting the eyes of the distinguished guests.
However, the bookseller was extremely persistent and even brought in several familiar friends to act as guarantors. His enthusiasm was hard to refuse. Wu Cheng'en had no choice but to hand the outline he had prepared to the bookseller.
The bookseller took it and flipped through a few pages, his face gradually turning green:
"I read in your outline that after Sun Wukong defeated the White Bone Lady and was expelled by Tang Seng, you actually had to write another five or six chapters before Tang Seng admitted his fault and the master and disciple reconciled... What was written in such a long passage in between?"
Hearing this, Wu Cheng'en became more energetic and interested in an instant. He never expected that this distinguished guest was so insightful that he could see through the foreshadowing in his own plot!
With a like-minded person in front of him, Sheri Hermit was delighted and began to tell his distinguished guest about his creative ideas. In his design, the three fights with the Bone Demon and the breakup between master and disciple were the beginning of Sun Wukong's complete farewell to his former "Monkey Heart". After bidding farewell to Tang Monk, Sun Wukong returned to the Flower-Fruit Mountain, only to find that his hometown had been destroyed in the war in Heaven, with only broken walls and ruins left. He then visited old friends everywhere, but found that all his old friends had died in the past five hundred years. The carefree past of the Monkey King could never be regained. Thus, in the vast loneliness and desolation, the Monkey King had nowhere to go, and was no different from the lonely stone monkey when he was born...
Such tortuous emotional conflicts and such profound and mysterious image transformations are indeed the result of the novelist's profound and superb skills and unique and profound insights. But in the ears of the rich businessman, all these thousands of words were reduced to just one sentence:
This guy named Wu is going to abuse his master!
The rich businessman's body shook and he could hardly hold back a breath of cold air!
But he was helpless and could only ask in a low voice:
"Isn't this too depressing? Can we scale it back a little?"
Wu Chengen frowned: "The manuscript has been written, it seems inconvenient to cut it down at will."
Although the tone was gentle, the attitude was very firm. The bookseller was watching his expression from the side, and his heart sank involuntarily - he knew the temperaments of these writers too well. To put it in a good way, they had a firm attitude towards art, and to put it in a bad way, they did not care about the life and death of their readers. As they wrote, they became emotional and would often come up with some very exciting plots of torturing the protagonist. Well, the artistic value of this kind of realistic plot is indeed as high as seven or eight floors, but have you ever considered the readers' feelings? !
It’s okay for ordinary readers, but do you know who is waiting to read this book now?
The bookseller's eyes bulged, but he could only humbly request:
"After all, the storybook is meant for everyone to read. It's not good to be too sad..."
Wu Cheng'en hesitated for a moment, but remained undeterred. He also patiently explained to the bookseller that he had removed most of the tragic fatalism, but still retained some of it; because only by retaining some of the tragic color would you know that what you are reading is not a simple low-quality refreshing novel, but a deep reflection on reality.
This explanation is indeed very powerful and convincing. But... can the rich businessman's master understand what people say?
The rich businessman let out a long breath, finally calmed down and made up his mind.
"Sir, you can write whatever you want." He said sadly, "But I am willing to pay you a sum of money to ask you to write a revised version of Journey to the West, as if it was written specifically for me."
He pushed over a wooden box.
“It’s not about the money…”
The Wu family is not so poor, and of course they look down on the vulgar behavior of throwing money at others. Besides, can art bend to money?
"This is one hundred taels."
Wu Cheng'en... Wu Cheng'en was silent.
"...Okay, I'll think about it."
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