Li Zhi looked at Wang Chengen and said, "The meaning of the widow is very clear in the chapter. ”

After a pause, Li Zhi said again: "Confucianism does not distinguish between right and wrong, only about personal feelings, and it is quite misleading to the country. Since I want to make great efforts to govern the country, I naturally want to abolish Confucianism and govern the country with public morality. ”

When Wang Chengen heard Li Zhi's words, he froze there for a long time and was speechless.

He had the heart to refute Li Zhi, but he didn't dare.

In the end, a thousand words crossed through Wang Chengen's stomach, and only turned into one sentence: "But what if the saint is unwilling?" ”

Li Zhi frowned and said: "The Son of Heaven has worked hard all these years to strengthen the country and enrich the people. At this critical juncture that determines the future of the Ming Dynasty, I believe that the Son of Heaven will not hesitate! ”

Wang Chengen smiled bitterly and did not speak.

Li Zhi said it soundly on the surface, but in fact, he said it fiercely.

Li Zhi is now a prince, and of course he has a back hand to do things. If the Son of Heaven was unwilling to abolish the imperial examination, Li Zhi naturally had a way to get the Son of Heaven to agree. It's just that nominally Li Zhi is the vassal king of the Ming Dynasty, and there is really no reason to force the Son of Heaven to act according to his own will. So Li Zhi said this, so he won't talk about it.

Wang Chengen looked at Li Zhi's face, a little panicked, and didn't dare to ask more.

He was really afraid that Li Zhi would be angry and say something rebellious. With Li Zhi's strength now, even if he commits chaos, who in the world can stop him?

The conversation between the two ended in a hurry.

Wang Chengen bowed to Li Zhi and said, "King Gaoyi of Qi, our family doesn't dare to stay in Tianjin for a long time, so we will go back to Beijing!" ”

Li Zhi didn't leave him behind, but said lightly: "The nobles go slowly." ”

Wang Chengen sighed, bowed to Li Zhi again, and slowly withdrew from the main hall of the Qi Palace.

####

On October 25, the twenty-fifth year of Chongzhen, Zhu Youzhen, the great emperor, stood in front of the incense burner in the Qianqing Palace, opened the lid of the furnace and stirred with the charcoal fire in the furnace for a while, but did not speak.

Wang Chengen arched his hand and said: "Emperor, the military power of Tianjin is too strong. ”

"It is no exaggeration to say that there is no problem for the soldiers of the Tiger Ben Army to fight two new troops in Beijing at a time. Those equipment, the slave maid is really the first time to see it, the first time to see such an elite equipment in the world. ”

"A Tiger Soldier has four guns, a rifle, a shotgun, and two handguns. Whether it's long-range shooting or close-range combat, there are no weaknesses at all. ”

"And now in Tianjin, the king of Qi has an army of 100,000."

Zhu Youzhen frowned and looked at the spices in the incense burner, and asked, "Can you ask the back hand of King Qi?" ”

Now what Zhu Youzhen is most concerned about is what Li Zhi will do if he drags it and does not abolish the imperial examination.

Wang Chengen's face turned white and he shook his head.

"Emperor, after staying in the barracks in Tianjin for a while, the slave maid was frightened. The slave maid is in front of the King of Qi... I really didn't dare to ask in front of King Qi. ”

Zhu Youzhen was stunned, pondering Wang Chengen's words.

After a long time, Zhu Youzhen understood Wang Chengen's embarrassment, and couldn't help but sigh.

Wang Chengen did not complete his mission, he was a little discouraged, and stood there speechless.

Wang Dehua, the eunuch of Dongchang, took a step forward and asked, "Holy Lord, now that King Qi's 100,000 army is stationed in Tianjin, should we stop the imperial examination first according to King Qi's recital." ”

Zhu Youzhen's face sank, and he couldn't help but sneer.

Li Zhi has always been an enemy of the Confucian gentry and regarded himself as a defender of public morality everywhere, and it is only natural that he has come to this point to try to abolish the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty. But this natural move was different from all the previous things, which made Zhu Youzhen very embarrassed.

Confucianism, as the political foundation of the Ming Dynasty, played a role in consolidating imperial power. This is the legal system set by the ancestors, and it is this legal system that has ensured the continuity of the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years. This is completely different from prohibiting the gentry from evading taxes.

As a great tomorrow, how could Zhu Youzhen be willing to weaken his political foundation by himself?

Zhu Youzhen groaned and said: "I have observed Li Zhi's words and deeds over the years... I don't believe he's going to rebel. ”

Wang Dehua said: "But the saint, now that the king of Qi is mighty, if this drags on, I am afraid that the situation will be corrupted." ”

Zhu Youzhen frowned and said: "Wang Dehua, if you talk about merit and prestige, which one is stronger, I or King Qi?" ”

Wang Dehua's face changed, and he arched his hand and said, "The slave doesn't dare to say it." ”

Zhu Youzhen sneered and said, "In terms of merit and prestige, I am far inferior to King Qi. ”

"It is precisely because everyone in the world believes in Confucianism's loyalty and filial piety etiquette, so no matter how strong the King of Qi is, the world will not hesitate to serve me as the Lord. Even if the king of Qi destroys the Tartars in the north and the thieves in the south, and conquers the north and expands the land for thousands of miles, the hearts of the people in this world are still on the side of my Zhu Ming royal family, and there will be no wavering in the slightest. ”

Zhu Youzhen took a breath.

"But if Confucianism is abolished, and everyone in the world talks about public morality, and they all pay attention to the virtuous and holy lord for the benefit of the people, where will the public opinion in this world go? When the time comes, everyone will say that the king of Qi has the hope of the four seas, and I am the son of heaven..."

Zhu Youzhen said this, he couldn't go on.

Closing the lid of the incense burner in his hand, Zhu Youzhen said: "This Confucianism cannot be abolished!" ”

Wang Chengen and Wang Dehua were silent when they saw that the Son of Heaven had said this. The two of them knelt on the ground, and knelt on the ground with the other little eunuchs and palace maids in the Qianqing Palace. These heavenly servants, one by one, panicked, and all of them did not dare to get up.

####

On the third day of the first month of November, Li Zhi sat in the three halls of the Qi Palace, looking through the official documents submitted from various places.

Now the stalls in one town and nine provinces are not much smaller than those of the Ming Dynasty, and the population under Li Zhi's rule is more than 70 million people, and all kinds of affairs are complicated. If Li Zhi has to bow down to everything, he will definitely be tired to death.

However, Li Zhi did not have a desire to grasp government affairs, and Li Zhi was well aware of the benefits of decentralization, and assigned local affairs to officials who managed the localities.

In one town and nine provinces, the power of the local governor and the "governor" of the military administration is very great, and even if there are some major events, Li Zhi only asks the local officials to report them afterwards. Li Zhi only requires good management of local affairs, and does not require everything to obey his own arrangements.

For example, when the Indochina Peninsula hired 150,000 unemployed samurai from Japan to manage the mountainous areas, Li Laosi just wrote a document to report to Li Zhi here, and Li Zhi replied with two words, "Yes," and Zheng Kaicheng, who was in charge of Japanese affairs, and Li Laosi, who was in charge of the Indochina Peninsula, took care of the matter. Among them, Li Zhi didn't care about the intricacies of personnel and finance.

Li Zhi's style is closely related to the culture of one town and nine provinces constantly expanding to the outside world. If you want to do things efficiently on the front, a high degree of centralization is unlikely. Taking history as a mirror, whether it is the Eastern Zhou Dynasty countries that continued to expand their territory in China or the majestic Tang Dynasty, their politics are highly decentralized, rather than centralized.

The official document arrived on Li Zhi's desk, in fact, it didn't matter if Li Zhi read it or not. Li Zhi is actually only in charge of the strategic direction of the territory.

After looking through the documents in various places for a while, Li Zhi suddenly raised his head, frowned and said, "It's been more than a month, and the Son of Heaven hasn't replied to the widow's recital. ”