The opposition was too great, and Yinzhen outwardly compromised, though he was very unhappy. Despite the compromise, he still directly controlled both ministries. However, in private, Le Shu practically lived in the Hall of Mental Cultivation and spent very little time in the Palace of Eternal Longevity. It was obvious who was actually in charge.
Those who are observant will naturally notice the emperor's actions, but there is always a veil covering it up. Since the emperor has military power, they pretend not to see it.
Resist again?
The emperor's sword is not afraid of being stained with blood.
Just when everyone thought the emperor had compromised, a newspaper quietly appeared in the capital.
In the beginning, the reports covered interesting stories and anecdotes from the capital, people's livelihood, agricultural affairs, the latest research results from the Imperial Academy of Natural Sciences, as well as some court policies and their impact on the people.
At the foot of the imperial city, there are many literate people, and in recent years, Yue Shu has set up many workshops and trained many literate women.
The emergence of newspapers was both abrupt and perfectly natural, which is quite contradictory.
This gave the people of the capital plenty of topics to talk about in their spare time. Under the imperial city, more and more ordinary people began to discuss national affairs and policies.
They weren't afraid to discuss the motivations behind Yinzhen and Leshu's policies.
The people in the imperial court finally realized the importance of newspapers, but they couldn't stop them, because newspapers accepted submissions from all over the country, and no one wanted to be unknown.
Scholars readily accepted the emergence of newspapers, but the Confucian family gradually panicked.
In the early part of the seventh year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign, a major event occurred in the capital, which shocked the entire nation after being reported in the newspapers.
At this time, newspapers were distributed throughout the country and advertising was allowed. Even if they weren't making money, they were already able to make a profit and loss.
This matter involved hundreds of people from Shandong. They came from different backgrounds, including scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, but their purpose was to file a complaint with the emperor. They were not suing anyone else, but the Kong family.
The Kong family has grown to a large number of members. They are used to being high and mighty and disdain imperial power. Naturally, they are not afraid of anything. They appear to be gentlemen, but they dare to do anything in reality.
When their status is too high, and their material desires are satisfied, they crave even greater pleasures and are capable of doing the most disgusting things.
The charges against the Confucius family are numerous, including violations of laws large and small, disregard for human life, and, most importantly, many ethical and moral issues. This is the Confucius family! The foundation of the Confucius family's existence lies in virtue.
Because so many people filed complaints, and because it happened so suddenly, the people of the capital all knew about it, and the newspapers also reported on it very well. It can be said that the Kong family was caught off guard, but they had all the evidence and witnesses to their side.
If an ordinary noble family had such evidence, they would naturally be executed and their entire family wiped out. But this was the Kong family, and among the Han Chinese officials in the imperial court, who would dare to say that they were not a student of Confucius?
The Confucian ideal of governing the country has taken deep root in people's hearts.
This matter was too sudden, and it was obvious that someone was behind it, most likely the emperor sitting at the head of the table.
Knowing the virtues of the Confucian family, they might not be disgusted, but they were afraid that the emperor would change the Confucian ideology of governing the country.
The life or death of the Kong family members is not important; what is important is the survival of Confucianism, which the Kong family represents.
This matter caused a great uproar, and they were afraid—afraid that the emperor would exterminate Confucian scholars.
Yinzhen did not intend to destroy Confucianism. Confucianism itself was not wrong, but the teaching of Confucianism was wrong. This was his understanding. He needed to make the scholars in the court fearful for a while longer.
In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Yinzhen calmly drank tea with Yue Shu when Su Peisheng entered.
"Your Majesty, Eunuch Liang has arrived. He says the Emperor Emeritus wishes to see you."
Emperor Kangxi's health remained the same all these years.
Yinzhen frowned: "I understand. You go out first and tell Liang Jiugong that I will go to see the Emperor Emeritus."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
After Su Peisheng left, Yinzhen said, "They couldn't sit still anymore. I didn't expect them to make such a fuss in front of Father Emperor."
Le Shu said, "You're pushing them too hard. They're scared. Go to Changchun Garden and bring more people with you."
A cornered dog will jump over the wall; some will watch and see, while others may be unable to sit still.
"I know."
Le Shu was still a little worried and suggested, "How about I put the article I prepared up there? That should be enough. A wise man doesn't stand under a dangerous wall."
Although they were not afraid, who knew what methods the other party would use? What if they went too far and ended up losing?
Yinzhen also understood this principle: "Listen to Shushu."
Yinzhen sent a message to Kangxi, and although Kangxi was angry, he surprisingly understood him.
This feeling is complex.
He knew everything Yinzhen had done over the years. Although he was unwilling, he was still gratified. Yinzhen had lived up to expectations and was indeed a good emperor, doing many things that other emperors wanted to do but could not.
Which emperor didn't know the harm of land annexation? The policy of merging the poll tax into the land tax could curb land annexation to a certain extent and allow people to live better. It wasn't that no one had proposed it before, and similar policies had appeared before, but it was too difficult to maintain them.
Feudal society was based on land. Land issues were matters of state. Reforms were easy to begin, but a single misstep could lead to the downfall of the entire nation.
But Yinzhen succeeded, and Kangxi could see that this policy would not end with the death of the man.
Yinzhen's good performance, to another extent, also shows that he was inferior to him. Kangxi was arrogant and felt somewhat frustrated.
It is gratifying to see a son surpass his father, but also frustrating.
The latest newspaper is out, and it contains an article about attitudes toward the Confucian family and Confucianism, titled "Down with the Confucian Shop, Rescue Confucius."
The article sparked a great deal of discussion upon its release.
Its content is that a country has its laws, and the Kong family, as descendants of Confucius, are unfilial to their ancestors and have let them down. The Kong family's virtues are unworthy of Confucius's bloodline and have tarnished their ancestors' reputation. Then, it affirms Confucianism and negates the Kong family, criticizing the traditional view that the Kong family is equivalent to Confucianism...
Once this article was published, scholars across the land saw the Emperor's attitude: he disliked the Confucian school, but had no objection to Confucianism itself.
The Confucianism's promotion of "benevolence" is indispensable for the education of the common people.
In Yinzhen and Yue Shu's plans for the future, Confucianism was intended for education, but its contents could not be entirely used for governing the country.
No one can see what the couple is planning. The scholars originally thought the Confucian family's dirty deeds were too disgusting, so they let it go if they hadn't made a fuss about it. But now that it has been made public, with witnesses and physical evidence, the Confucian family's reputation has been shattered.
After some discussion, it was decided that the Kong family should be punished as appropriate. No one would risk their lives to test the power of the emperor's cannons. If the emperor intended to separate the Kong family from the Confucian school, then so be it.
The emperor is tough and powerful, which makes the court officials appear weaker. However, they probably don't realize that if they take a step back, they will only be able to retreat step by step in the future.
Yinzhen had been keeping an eye on the Kong family for a long time. Sending officials to punish them was useless, so he sent troops to suppress them.
It wouldn't have been a bloodbath, but many people died in this incident.
It wasn't that there were no scholars criticizing Yinzhen; it was just that he had newspapers, and the censorship of these newspapers was controlled by him and Yue Shu. The newspaper content was mainly in vernacular Chinese, making it easy to understand.
Newspapers became a medium for direct communication between the emperor and ordinary people, and then scholars discovered that their proud right to guide public opinion was gone!
Only then did they realize how terrifying the current emperor's methods were.
He used the hearts of the people to create a golden statue for himself, a statue that is unbreakable.
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