There is a saying in "Mencius: Gongsun Chou I" that "Wherever the Tao exists, I will go even if there are tens of thousands of people against me."
Mencius believed that this was a kind of courage and spirit, representing a spirit of moving forward courageously.
At the same time, from ancient times to the present, countless people have highly praised martyrdom and have sacrificed their lives for their ideals and beliefs. There have always been many such people.
In universal values, everyone respects and admires such people very much.
Zou Yuanbiao is such a person. He defends his own principles and is even willing to sacrifice his life for it.
Like Zou Yuanbiao, there is also Gao Panlong.
In February of the sixth year of the Tianqi reign, Cui Chengxiu was unwilling to see Gao Panlong merely dismissed from office and was determined to get rid of him.
Cui Chengxiu then fabricated a memorial from Li Shi, the Zhejiang tax inspector, falsely accusing Gao Panlong, Zhou Qiyuan and seven others of corruption. The imperial court dispatched the imperial guards to arrest them.
In March, Gao Panlong dressed up and went to pay homage to the ancestral temple of the sage Yang Shi. Returning home, he and his younger brother Gao Shihe and his students enjoyed the flowers by the pond in the back garden, chatting and laughing freely.
At this time, someone came to report that Zhou Shunchang had been arrested. Gao Panlong remained calm and said with a smile: "I am ready to die."
After returning home, he chatted and laughed with his wife as usual, with nothing unusual happening. Old Gao handed his two grandsons a handwritten letter, instructing them to deliver it to the school officer the next day, and then dismissed the grandsons behind closed doors.
Soon, Gao Panlong's sons (who noticed something was wrong) came to investigate and discovered that Gao Panlong had drowned himself in the pond. He was 64 years old.
Gao Panlong's descendants opened the letter and found a will. It read: "Although I have been dismissed from office, I was once a minister at the imperial court. Ministers must not be insulted, for the humiliation of a minister is tantamount to the humiliation of the state. I can only now respectfully kowtow facing north, emulating Qu Yuan's last wish. I have not yet repaid the emperor's kindness, but I only hope to repay it in my next life. This is the last letter from you, Gao Panlong. I hope the messenger will take this letter to report to the emperor."
As long as the Tao exists, even if you die a hundred times, you will still regret it.
This applies to people like Gao Panlong, who have been sticking to their principles throughout their lives.
It is indeed admirable and touching. However, at this moment, Zhu Youxiao thought of another sentence, which is: Those who have different ideals cannot work together. It is from Confucius' "The Analects of Confucius: Duke Ling of Wei".
You are practicing your way and defending your way, and you are willing to pay the price of your life for it; I am also practicing my way and defending my way, and I am willing to pay the price of my life for it.
Zhu Youxiao suddenly felt that the wisdom of the ancients was very profound, which also reminded him of some things in later generations.
Is Bushido the Way? Are the things that Japanese fas.ces practice their Way?
For the sake of their Tao, they are willing to die and even commit suicide by cutting their stomachs, but what have their Tao brought to the world?
Looking up at Zou Yuanbiao, Zhu Youxiao felt that he had found the crux of the problem.
There may be loyal and upright people among the Donglin Party, perhaps they are not corrupt, and perhaps they are wholeheartedly devoted to the country, but their principles are wrong. If the country is governed according to their principles, the Ming Dynasty will not be strong, nor will it be revived. Instead, it will decline rapidly!
After realizing this, Zhu Youxiao laughed.
Yang Lian and others took the lead in attacking Xiong Tingbi, believing that although Xiong Tingbi had made contributions to the country, he also had faults, and that this was defending the orthodox doctrine.
In front of the Dao, everything else is nothing. The Dao is the most important thing, nothing is more important than the Dao. This is the root of the problem.
"I will think carefully about what my dear Minister Zou said." Zhu Youxiao looked at Zou Yuanbiao, nodded with a smile, and then looked serious.
After Zou Yuanbiao left, Zhu Youxiao turned to look at Chen Hong, reached out and gently tapped the armrest of the wheelchair, and said leisurely: "Just like last time, just say that Zou Yuanbiao requested a review of the law."
Chen Hong was stunned. Spread the news again? Isn't this a bit too insidious?
But Chen Hong didn't dare to advise, so he could only bow his head and do it.
Zhu Youxiao also knew that this could not be done often, and this was the last time he did it.
Of course, there was a purpose for leaking the information these two times.
As for Gao Panlong, Zhu Youxiao wanted to see who would submit a memorial to impeach Gao Panlong and who would submit a memorial to request severe punishment for Li Ruzhen.
In comparison, the Li Ruzhen case was not that important. Even if the Three Courts decided to make a big deal out of a small matter, if he disagreed, they would still be helpless. He could always send the case back to the East Factory for a retrial.
The news this time was even simpler. Zhu Youxiao needed to find ministers who supported his policies.
No matter whether they are loyal or treacherous, from the Donglin Party or other parties, as long as they support my policies, I will use them.
Zhu Youxiao saw very clearly that whether it was the Donglin Party or the Qi, Zhejiang and Chu Party, they were essentially the same.
When Fang Congzhe was the chief minister of the cabinet, the court had several major problems.
The first major problem was local famine. With the onset of the Little Ice Age, widespread famine struck. Coupled with the rampant land annexation, unrest among the lower classes of the Ming Dynasty began to emerge.
Fang Congzhe's solution to this problem was simple: to use the emperor's private money to provide disaster relief.
The second measure was to open the granaries and quickly release tens of thousands of dan of rice to distribute to neighboring areas, but this measure was often ineffective due to corruption among local officials.
The third point is tax exemption and suspension, to put it bluntly, tax exemption;
The fourth point is to recruit local officials.
Do these claims look familiar?
Basically, it is the same routine as the Donglin Party. The reason why they are fighting is not a fight over the line, but a fight for power and interests.
Whoever is in power benefits, whoever is in power has more people. Not to mention other things, whoever is in power can embezzle more money.
Why was Liaodong always fought over? Because Liaodong cost millions of taels of silver in military pay every year.
Liaodong is a vast oil depot. Anyone who reaches in can grab a handful of oil. How can one not fight for it? How can one not rob it? Destroying someone's financial resources is like killing their parents. How can one not fight tooth and nail?
As for their propositions and policies, the Donglin Party and the Qi, Zhejiang and Chu Party were the same, and their interests and demands were also consistent, that is, to limit the imperial power, we have the final say, to limit taxes, we don’t pay taxes, the emperor will give us more treasury, and let us embezzle more.
There is no difference except who gets the benefits.
Zhu Youxiao released this news this time in order to discredit Zou Yuanbiao and make him cut himself off from the Donglin Party.
Of course, this is basically impossible, but you can ask him to resign and give up his position.
In Zhu Youxiao's view, the position of Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate was too important. If he needed the Censorate, he had to place his own people in this position.
In addition, you need to know if there are people who have no bottom line as scholars and are willing to follow you, even if it is just for promotion and wealth. It doesn’t matter.
As long as he is willing to support me in retaking the exam, I will promote him.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
