Chapter 82 Absorbing Spiritual Energy
The stalemate over the Nanyang Academy finally ended temporarily with the fleet setting sail in the autumn. After all, everyone had already gone out to sea, and there was no reason for anyone to continue the stalemate. Even the censors believed that since the fleet had already set sail and Zhang Zhong, who was in charge of the academy, had led the fleet to leave the Ming Dynasty, there was no need for the so-called Nanyang Academy to continue to exist.
But the fact is that the emperor had no intention of disbanding the Nanyang Academy. The officials who did not go to sea this time continued to learn navigation knowledge in the Nanyang Academy. The palace would still send out female officials and eunuchs to study regularly, and then bring them all back after checking the number of people.
In other words, the emperor had no intention of giving up the Nanyang School and continuing to go to sea.
This matter dragged on for more than half a year. The emperor still insisted, and the censor still insisted, but Zhu Yuhuan obviously no longer intended to give them any more chances.
"Is that the rumored Liu Yushi over there? Why is he wearing shackles?"
"I heard that the emperor asked them to write an article, but they refused to do so. That's why they were brought to the Nanyang Academy by the Imperial Guards every day to absorb the spiritual energy of literature."
"Absorbing the spiritual energy of words? Shouldn't we go to the Imperial College?"
"That's because you don't know. Aside from merchants, most of those who went out to sea before came from the Nanyang Academy. Only those who had studied at the Imperial College and the Palace Academy could attend the Nanyang Academy... Although the Nanyang Academy was newly built by the current emperor, its status is no less than that of the Imperial College!"
"I have a distant relative helping out in the kitchen at Nanyang Academy. I heard that His Majesty personally visited the academy... Since His Majesty ascended the throne, he hasn't even visited the Imperial College. Instead, he visited Nanyang Academy first! Not only that, but when the officials from the fleet return, everyone will be given high positions! I heard that His Majesty plans to follow the example of Emperor Xuanmiao and establish several new government offices, recruiting officials from the public!"
People on the roadside couldn't help pointing and talking as they watched the imperial censors being escorted into the Nanyang Academy by the Embroidered Uniform Guards.
Zhu Yuhuan found the person who submitted the most memorials from among the censors, and pulled him out to be punished with twenty strokes of the cane. However, she did not order anyone to be too harsh, because after all, being beaten with a stick was the least painful, and the real torture was yet to come.
There was a punishment called shackle, in which the punished wore shackles, which could be light or heavy. Zhu Yuhuan certainly didn't want them to suffer, so he didn't put heavy shackles on them. Instead, he asked them to walk around the Nanyang Academy with the shackles on. After returning to the cell, they had to write an article praising the advantages of the Nanyang Academy, read it in front of Xu Gong, and hand the article to Zhu Yuhuan, and the punishment would end.
This set of rules may not seem harsh, but it was extremely insulting to these censors. After being "paraded through the streets" by the Jinyiwei, several of them became even more angry and had no intention of writing any essays. Only one or two of them wrote the essays and handed them to Zhu Yuhuan.
Zhu Yuhuan naturally had his own methods to deal with such uncooperative officials.
If you don't cooperate today, we will continue the tour tomorrow. After one round, we will try the second round. If the second round doesn't work, we will try the third round. The Ming Dynasty has not reached the point where it cannot provide three meals a day for the prisoners in the imperial prison. Anyway, the Nanyang Academy will open as usual regardless of rain or shine, and these imperial censors are welcome to come for "inspection" anytime and anywhere.
In addition, there can be a few more clever ideas on the shackles, such as writing words like "high moral character" and "thrifty and frugal", but what good can the words written on the shackles be? They are nothing more than irony.
Everyone knows that the Jinyiwei are cruel and ruthless. Once you enter the imperial prison, you will experience all the tortures since ancient times, but no one has ever seen the Jinyiwei come up with such a method of "humiliating" people.
Compared with torture, this kind of punishment is obviously more unbearable for officials.
The beating in court only hurts the buttocks, but the cangue is endlessly humiliating!
But when the people heard about this matter, the meaning gradually changed. Most people only understood it roughly and thought that the censor stopped the emperor from building a school. However, the emperor not only did not care, but even just asked them to wear shackles to bask in the sun and write two articles, which was easier than doing menial work.
"Look at that guy over there, his face is rosy. Tsk tsk... is he going to jail? Why does he look fatter than he was two days ago?"
"Your Majesty values scholars the most. There are even gatherings at the Taiping Teahouse. In my opinion, they are too ungrateful. It's just an article..."
"I heard that if I don't write for a day, it will be an article. If I don't write every day, the more articles I will accumulate, I am afraid I can publish a collection of them later!"
"That's a good thing."
The people peeking around the Nanyang Academy burst into laughter, and then someone whispered, "Have you heard? His Majesty is summoning Duke Yansheng to the capital to meet him because of the inappropriate language in these censors' articles!"
"Is this true?"
"Of course it's true. I heard that Duke Yansheng is on his way."
Zhu Yuhuan certainly had no intention of letting them go, and the aftermath of this incident directly hit Shandong.
To be more precise, it was a direct attack on the Confucius Mansion.
When passionately arguing with the emperor, most of the censors had fallen into the quagmire of making the emperor "convinced", but they forgot that the emperor opposite them was never alone.
The emperor had been watching them calmly, waiting for them to show their hand.
The reason was that many people mentioned words such as "Confucius's Way" and "the moral principles of husband and wife" in their memorials. These were just clichés, and basically everyone had written similar words. This gave Zhu Yuhuan an opportunity to use them against him.
Confucius's teachings certainly make sense, but the answer to the question of whether to listen to Confucius or the emperor when governing the country is obvious.
But Zhu Yuhuan just wanted to get to the bottom of this issue and get to the bottom of it.
Of course, Confucius has been dead for more than a thousand years, so it is impossible to ask him in person, but Confucius still has descendants, and that is the Kong family who was named Yanshenggong.
The ancestor could not come out to answer clearly, so as the "successor" of Confucius's teachings, the Kong family should of course answer the emperor's questions and resolve his doubts.
In addition, the Kong family in Shandong is far less reputable than Confucius himself. Even the Kong family members attack each other, not to mention the enemies outside who are also eyeing them covetously.
When Zhu Yuhuan ascended the throne, the Kong family also wrote a congratulatory message, praising Zhu Yuhuan to the heavens. The current Duke Yansheng of the Kong family, Kong Yanjin, was originally going to go to the capital to pay homage to Zhu Yuhuan in person. However, the capital was still in a state of war at that time and no one was allowed to enter the capital at will, so the matter was left unresolved.
But the emperor was the most unreasonable person in the world. He could bring up old accounts anytime and anywhere as long as he wanted to.
Kong Yanjin never expected that he would be summoned to the capital to meet the emperor under such circumstances, but he still obediently entered the capital under the escort of the government. However, he had already cursed those imperial censors in his heart.
Previously, when Wang Zhen had turned the court into such a mess, these officials hadn't dared to challenge him. Now that the emperor has been replaced and Wang Zhen's burden is no longer hanging over their heads, these people are really fed up with life. Do they really think the emperor is easy to mess with? They think they're acting out some kind of "Zou Ji's Advice to the King of Qi" drama...
Besides, it would be fine if they were just tired of living, but they actually brought the Kong family with them! Crazy, all crazy!
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