Yikun Palace.

Wanli lost his temper for a moment after being confronted by Hai Rui, and said in a muffled voice: "The so-called mining supervisor and tax collector is just a cover. Lord Hai, don't worry that they will do whatever they want. I will restrain them and let them focus on the duties of guarding the town and supervising the army."

He himself did not believe this, and said that he was using the name of mining supervisor and tax collector as a cover because of his strong greed for money.

"It doesn't matter what you call them!" Hai Rui would not listen to his nonsense and said mercilessly: "As long as Your Majesty sends eunuchs out, they will definitely plunder and do evil! Why did Emperor Shizong recall the eunuchs stationed in various places? It was because when he was a vassal king, he witnessed with his own eyes the ugly faces of those eunuchs who did all kinds of evil in the local areas!"

Zhang Hong, Zhang Cheng and other senior officials all looked down at their toes, secretly hating him, what an old fool!

"I can guarantee that if we send them out, it will take at most ten years, or at most several years, to bring disaster to the ancestral temple!" Hai Rui raised his head and said with a steely gaze, "If Your Majesty insists on sending them out, I am willing to follow the example of the ancients who gave advice through their dead bodies, and let them step over my dead body!"

Wanli was immediately frightened. Everyone knew that Hai Rui would do what he said.

"Then what do you think I should do? Should I just watch them climb up the roof and tear off the tiles, wash their necks and wait to die?" The Roaring Emperor was helpless and furious.

"No! Your Majesty can save yourself, and it is not difficult to do so." Hai Rui shook his head firmly and said in a deep voice: "Even preserving the ancestral temple for a long time is definitely not an extravagant hope!"

"Oh? Tell me." Wanli became interested. He was a stubborn and cowardly guy.

"I hope Your Majesty will learn from the late emperor." Hai Rui prescribed his medicine.

"Father?" Wanli laughed in his heart. He despised his father the most. He always thought that it was his father who lost the authority that his grandfather had regained with great difficulty, which made him so tired. He curled his lips and said, "The censors all said that my father was lazy and retiring, and neglected government affairs."

"After Emperor Muzong Zhuang ascended the throne, he was generous and kind, and practiced profound and silent cultivation. He ruled the country without lowering his rank, and he was committed to entrusting ministers with important tasks! He followed the general principles, was not harsh, and transformed himself by doing nothing. He loved peace and was upright. Therefore, within six years, the whole country unanimously called him the Emperor of Taiping!" Hai Rui said solemnly:

"Although the late emperor was indeed a little lazy, a little stupid, and had some of my own illnesses, I still believe that he was a wise ruler! If Your Majesty could also follow the late emperor's teachings of Huang Lao, rule by inaction, love the people, be kind, forgiving, respectful and frugal, then everyone in the world would praise him and support him. Who would support Zhao Hao in raising the flag then?"

"If Your Majesty can teach by example and words, and make the heirs of the royal family in the future all take the hearts of the people as their own, love them, and share their sorrows and joys, then it is not impossible for the Taizu ancestral temple to be passed down for a hundred generations!"

Wanli sneered after hearing this and said, "Good fellow, I finally understand. It turns out that Gong Fu's trick is to make me a decoration?"

"It's definitely not a decoration. The most important affairs of a country are sacrifices and war! Sacrifice requires holding the meat, and war requires receiving the meat. These are the great principles of the gods." Hai Rui said in a deep voice:

"No one can replace your majesty's position as the chief priest. Moreover, rituals like praying for rain and ploughing the fields personally can also reflect your love for the people. Your majesty just needs to pay attention to the sacrifice. Every solemn sacrifice will be a sacred reinforcement. Naturally, no one will dare to offend your majesty!" Hai Rui said in a deep voice.

"Then who has the final say in the Ming Dynasty?" Wanli's eyes widened as he asked, "Is it me or Zhao Hao?! Father had the power to do it but he didn't use it. If I tell Zhao Hao to die, will he agree?!"

"National affairs are difficult. They are related to the rise and fall of the country and the well-being of the people. The master should not consider his own benefit as benefit, but let the world benefit from it; he should not consider his own harm as harm, but let the world be relieved of it. Such a person must be thousands of times more diligent than the people in the world. If one works thousands of times harder but does not enjoy the benefits, it is definitely not what the people in the world want to live in." Hai Rui advised earnestly:

"Besides, if you don't make decisions, you won't make mistakes, and you won't have to bear any responsibilities. You can enjoy the success without suffering the consequences, and you will be invincible. Why not do it?"

"Mr. Hai, are you bullying me because I haven't studied enough? I can pass the imperial examination and become the top scholar. You, a juren, can't fool me." Wanli said angrily, "Isn't this another case of 'government is in the hands of the Ning family, and sacrifices are in the hands of me'? Wasn't it like this for the past fifteen years?! I don't want to live like this for even one more day!"

"The government is run by the Ning family, and the sacrifices are performed by me." This sentence originally comes from "Zuo Zhuan" and was said by Duke Xian of Wei.

Duke Xian of Wei said this because he was driven out of Wei at the time. In order to return to his country, he said the above words to Ning Xi, the Ning Huizi of Bing State, which meant that as long as he could come back and continue to be the king, then all the political affairs would be handed over to you, and I would only be responsible for the sacrifices.

"Your Majesty is biased. There is nothing wrong with being responsible for sacrifices only. The later lord also said, 'The government is in the hands of the Ge family, and the sacrifices are in my hands.'" Hai Rui retorted.

"Liu Chan is the king who lost his country!" Wanli jumped up and down.

"But the fault is not Zhuge's." Hai Rui secretly rolled his eyes, thinking that if you were half as worry-free as Liu Chan, the Ming Dynasty would not be in danger of extinction. He then gave another example: "Emperor Xuanwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty also said, 'Government is in the hands of the Jiang family, and sacrifices are in the hands of me.' Didn't the Northern Wei Dynasty enter its heyday during Jiang Zhan's reign?"

"So there's nothing wrong with 'sacrifice to me'. If I don't do anything, I won't make mistakes, and I won't have to bear any responsibilities, and I won't be accused of being unjust. With the merits of my great ancestor, as long as the royal family always loves the people, there will be no problem passing the throne down to the next generation." Hai Rui was very satisfied with the method he had been thinking about for many years. He felt that this was the best solution to 'solve the dilemma by himself', and he spoke with great expectation:

"Although Zhao Hao hopes to abolish the imperial system, fortunately, the Ming Dynasty was founded in the most legitimate way, and the people have been accustomed to the imperial system for thousands of years. So if the people of the world still want to have an emperor, he can accept this result of 'a nominal emperor but a real emperor'."

Hai Rui devised a plan for Wanli with all his loyalty: "Your Majesty, if you talk to him now, you still have a lot of capital and can win an excellent position. If the emperor does not give up and allows me to talk, I will do my best to retain your Majesty's right to veto, requiring all civil and military officials to swear allegiance, and all laws must be signed with the seal before they can take effect. In this way, your Majesty's actual power will still be very great..."

"Are you done?" Hai Rui was talking passionately, but Wanli said coldly, "You are really Kublai Khan's uncle, you are talking nonsense."

"What?" Hai Rui was stunned, his brain went blank.

"What bad idea did Master Haigong come up with?" Wanli snorted coldly, turned around and sat back on the throne, gritting his teeth and said, "As a minister, you actually want me to negotiate with the traitors. What a joke!"

"That's better than dying and having your country destroyed, right?" Hai Rui's lips trembled and he started coughing violently out of anger.

"You don't even know what an emperor is! If I can't rule the world and be the only one in the world! Those who obey me will prosper, and those who disobey me will perish! What kind of emperor are you?!" Wanli raised his hands high, and his loud voice echoed in the hall:

"Five years ago, I swore that I would take back the power! I would rather die than be a puppet again! This world is the inheritance of my ancestors. If I can't make the decision, then let it be buried with me!"

After saying this, Wanli waved his hand fiercely and said, "Hai Rui, go back. I don't want to see you again..."

"Your Majesty, please think twice!" Hai Rui's chest rose and fell violently. He suppressed his anger and said, "Now is not the time to be angry..."

"I am not angry!" Wanli sneered and said, "Zhang Cheng, go and tell all the mining supervisors and tax collectors to leave Beijing immediately without delay!"

"Yes." Zhang Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, glared at Hai Rui fiercely, and left the hall to convey the order.

"Zhu Yijun, you are a fool who doesn't know how to live or die!" Hai Rui could no longer hold back and pointed at Wanli and cursed, "The Taizu family line will be destroyed in your hands! How can you, an unworthy descendant, face the previous emperors of the Ming Dynasty? You are not worthy of being a descendant of the Zhu family!"

"Shut up! Do you really think I dare not kill you?!" Wanli slammed the armrest of the dragon throne and roared, "You are so rude to take advantage of your age! Do you deserve to be called a loyal minister when you insult me ​​like this?!"

"If you don't advise your lord when he makes mistakes, you are not loyal. If you don't speak out when you are afraid of death, you are not brave! If your advice is not taken, you will die. This is the ultimate loyalty!" Hai Rui responded sharply, "You are greedy and unruly. You harm the people and oppress the people. You are absurd and lazy in your administration. You sit in the toilet without doing anything. Your virtue is not worthy of your position. You are not worthy of being a ruler!"

"You are full of lies and extremely selfish. You are ungrateful to your master, irresponsible to your son, indifferent to your wife, and cruel to your servants. You are not worthy of being a human being!"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up! Shut his mouth and arrest him!" Wanli was furious. He pointed at Hai Rui and shouted, "I finally understand. You are a traitor with a treacherous mind! My grandfather should not have spared your life! Then let me kill you!"

Seeing that the emperor was furious, the Jing troops guarding outside the palace rushed in and surrounded Hai Rui with spears and halberds in their hands.

But no one dared to touch Hai Rui, he was a living door god! Hai Rui glanced at them coldly, and everyone's legs trembled and urinated.

Hai Rui looked up to the sky and laughed sadly, "That man is absolutely right. The greatest harm to the world is the emperor! He regards the world as his private property and inherits it after the father dies. This is the worst evil!"

As he said this he sneered and glanced at Wanli with his eyes as sharp as lightning, which frightened Wanli so much that he trembled.

"Since good words cannot persuade a damned ghost, I will use my life to sound the death knell for you, so that the innocent people will suffer less!"

After saying that, he leaped towards the golden halberd in the hand of a Jing army soldier!

The Jing army soldier was completely terrified and watched helplessly as the tip of his long halberd pierced into Hai Rui's chest.

The blood instantly dyed the white crane on the first-grade patch red, and also dyed the entire blue sky and the auspicious clouds into an ominous blood color...

The Jingjun was so frightened that he ignored his duty, dropped his halberd, kowtowed to Hai Rui, and cried, "I didn't mean it. Lord Hai, please don't blame me!"

The rest of the Jing army also knelt on the ground, kowtowed, and cried.

Wanli was so frightened that he was stunned. Even though he had just said some harsh words, he would not dare to hurt Hai Rui even if he had a hundred times the courage!

"You all saw it. I, I didn't want to kill him..." He slumped on the dragon chair and muttered, "He sought death on his own..."

ps. I have written one chapter till now. Hai Gong is gone for eternity tonight.