But soon, as this kind of petition that emphasized formalism over substance became a trend, Li and Lu immediately realized the true significance of Emperor Zhao's actions - the significance actually lay in the questioning of politics itself.
These literati below are not some conspiracy group. Judging from the way they submit petitions in groups, they are organized according to regions, because these days they cannot cross the geographical restriction even if they want to connect with each other. The documents they submit are mostly conciliatory and obviously contain nonsense that neutralizes the comprehensive position within the region... In addition, they are all Confucian literati, and it is unlikely that they really have any personal economic pressure because of those taxes. So where do all the resentment come from?
At this time, Emperor Zhao came to Hangzhou, showed them an attitude, and gave them certain political treatment, which in itself could achieve the purpose of winning them over and easing the atmosphere of confrontation.
Therefore, even this obviously formalistic political inquiry still achieved unprecedented success... Many people have never seen the emperor in their entire lives, and have never passed the imperial examination. This time, they were able to represent a state or an army, lead a group of hometown children to meet Emperor Zhao, and put forward their opinions in person. Even if they could not express themselves clearly, they were still accepted from a formal perspective and received courtesy. This was probably the pinnacle of their lives.
And since he had reached the pinnacle of his life by riding on the shoulders of Emperor Zhao, he naturally had to change his stance and become a standard establishment figure. If anyone spoke ill of the emperor in front of him, he would refute them angrily. If anyone said that a strategy of the court was not good, he would also earnestly point out the court's difficulties and make general excuses for the court.
By the next day, even the local states and counties that had not made similar preparations at the beginning had hastily gathered together, nominated famous people, and wrote documents overnight to implement this strategy on behalf of the local governments... in order to accomplish this very meaningful task.
In this way, for two consecutive days, Emperor Zhao and the three ministers met almost all the "proposal groups" from Liangzhe Road, most of Jiangnan East Road, Fujian Road, and a small part of Lianghuai Road, which satisfied the vanity of quite a number of scholars and officials, and also made the voices of praise in Hangzhou city gradually more obvious.
It seemed as though a united conference would end successfully.
But that's all.
Starting from the afternoon of the second day, some decent petitions began to appear, and many people who really wanted to discuss practical issues also showed up.
For example, the two Jiangyin literati Su Bai and Li Tao brought a group of young scholars from Changzhou to submit a separate memorial, listing more than a dozen things, all of which were specific measures.
Among them, the suggestion to gather ships in the southeast, land the "100,000 troops of the Imperial Camp" in Cangzhou and go straight to Yanyun is, of course, a typical scholar's view... If the 100,000 troops of the Imperial Camp were really sent to that place, they would lose their logistics and be surrounded and annihilated. The leapfrog tactic could not jump so far, not to mention that the southeast direction was already very exhausted. If they forced the ships to requisition, the merchants might be forced to become pirates.
However, the idea of setting up local public offices in various places and passing it down layer by layer like the Three-She Law to open up channels for communication coincided with the terms that Zhao Jiu had discussed with the ministers before he came.
Therefore, Emperor Zhao granted them both the same Jinshi degree and the title of Secretary Lang, and asked them to unite with the local scholar-official leaders "for consultation" and start from the southeast to plan this matter.
This incident further ignited the enthusiasm along the West Lake.
But just when everyone was about to continue speaking enthusiastically, another imperial decree came that night. The emperor had summoned the literati and officials for two consecutive days, and the rest of the merchants, monks, Taoists, and farmers and workers in the market had never had the opportunity to meet with the emperor. Therefore, on the third and fourth days, the emperor would suspend the audience with the literati and officials, and instead summon those people... and resume questioning on the fifth day.
This decree is so open and aboveboard that it is difficult to oppose it.
However, the retired Xu Jingheng expressed some concerns at this time... He was afraid that with only one more day left for the literati and two days of idle time, coupled with Emperor Zhao's friendly attitude, some of the literati who were truly resentful would probably take the opportunity to complete the last step of the chain and make real big news on the last day.
Of course, Mr. Xu’s worries are not unreasonable, but Mr. Li, Mr. Lu, and Mr. Zhao don’t seem to care at all, so there is nothing to be done.
Putting aside Mr. Xu's worries, let's just say that in the next two days, it will be the turn of monks, Taoists, merchants and ordinary people to participate in this martial arts conference. Their way of participation is completely different from that of the literati... Most monks, Taoists and merchants come to pay for royal protection, as the so-called precedent in Yangzhou... And Emperor Zhao is also happy to sell official positions and make deals openly.
Whether it's the five Zen temples in the southeast, the Fujian sea merchants, or the ones who own kilns or silk transport companies, no matter if you are practicing koan or silent Zen, no matter if you are going to Southeast Asia or want to go to Japan, as long as you give money, everything can be negotiated.
By the way, these wealthy merchants, monks and Taoists who came to speak also became "consultational" figures, ready to be incorporated into the local public cabinet system and become glorious system members.
As for the common people who came to see the emperor, to be honest, their number was extremely small compared to those scholars, wealthy businessmen, monks and Taoists, and most of them came to file complaints... who was divorcing whom, who was fighting for inheritance, who felt that someone in their family had been wronged, and some even came to report where the vegetable-eating cult was!
In this regard, it was even easier for Emperor Zhao to deal with it. He just transferred all of it to the relevant officials...that is, the legendary relevant departments.
The only thing was a report from the Vegetable Eating Demon Cult, because they were entrenched in Xiaoshan, opposite the Qiantang River. Therefore, no one dared to neglect it. The commander of the imperial guard, Liu Yan, personally led 500 loyal cavalrymen of the imperial guard, crossed the river overnight, and rushed to Xiaoshan. On the morning of the next day, they brought the leader of the Vegetable Eating Demon Cult and dozens of its core members back to Hangzhou.
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