Li Zhi sat in the Qinzheng courtyard of the Qi Palace, carefully examining the summary of the situation of the Qi Wangsheng Ancestral Hall in various places.

Zheng Hui, Gao Ligong and Han Jinxin stood in front of Li Zhi, and they didn't dare to come out.

Han Jinxin's face was very embarrassed, and he stood in front of Li Zhi with a faint sweat on his forehead.

This time, because of a big incident in the ancestral hall, Han Jinxin, who concealed it and did not report it, could not escape his guilt. Han Jinxin has been cautious all these years, and he has worked hard for Li Zhi's saddle before and after, and there is no small action. But he still failed to comprehend Li Zhi's attitude in this life hall and made a mistake.

After all, Han Jinxin is a native of the Ming Dynasty, and he will not think that it is a bad thing for others to set up an ancestral hall for Li Zhi. As Wei Zhongxian's former minion, Han Jinxin witnessed the trend of officials from all over the country establishing a shrine for the Wei family when he was 9,000 years old. Those splendid ancestral halls did increase Wei Zhongxian's prestige in a short period of time, making Wei Zhongxian's power even stronger.

What happened after Wei Zhongxian's fall is another matter.

In Han Jinxin's heart, this people's spontaneous establishment of a shrine for King Qi is a good thing that cannot be sought. Internally, it can increase the cohesion of one town and nine provinces, and externally, it can increase Li Zhi's prestige.

However, Li Zhi doesn't think so, in Li Zhi's eyes, although this ancestral hall for himself is harmless, it can be regarded as a cult of personality. Li Zhi felt that this kind of absolute worship was not good for him, and he might be paralyzed, arrogant, complacent, and lose the motivation to move forward.

Moreover, after the cult of personality rises to the level of deification, it can be said to be a kind of superstition, which may affect the scientific spirit and the culture of public morality in one town and nine provinces.

Therefore, Li Zhi's attitude towards the ancestral halls was not very good a few years ago, and he even ordered the demolition of several ancestral halls after learning that several ancestral halls cost a lot of money. This made Han Jinxin very stunned, and felt that Li Zhi was really a little rigid.

However, Li Zhi's indifferent attitude could not stop the enthusiasm of the common people to support Li Zhi, and ancestral halls in various places still sprung up like mushrooms after a rain. In order to prevent Li Zhi from demolishing his ancestral hall, the magistrates and Han Jinxin simply did not report it to Li Zhi.

The folk ancestral hall does not affect the local economy, nor does it affect the financial statements. The local government did not report it, and Li Zhi really didn't know that the ancestral halls in various places had developed to this scale.

However, now that such a big thing has happened in the ancestral hall of Jinghai County, Han Jinxin and the local officials finally can't hide it. Now Han Jinxin has to report all the situation of the ancestral halls in various places to Li Zhi.

For Han Jinxin, who has experienced the downfall of life and suddenly met Li Zhi, the master of the Ming Dynasty in middle age, and was reused, he has always believed in being loyal to the master. The current situation made him feel very embarrassed, and he didn't know if Li Zhi would change his opinion of himself from now on.

Of course, Li Sik noticed Han Jinxin's thoughts.

Li Zhi looked at it for a long time, shook his head and said, "I didn't expect that the local situation had developed to this extent. ”

Zheng Hui and Gao Ligong secretly glanced at each other, and their faces were a little frightened.

Han Jinxin concealed it and did not report it, and the two of them, as governors, also did not report the matter of the ancestral hall.

After a long time, Zheng Hui plucked up the courage to say: "Lord Wang, this ancestral hall is bad, but it is also good. Although something happened to the ancestral hall in Jinghai County, there was no accident in the ancestral hall in other places. On the whole, this ancestral hall can still increase the cohesion of the people in one town and nine provinces. ”

Li Zhi threw away the information on the table and looked at Zheng Hui.

Zheng Hui didn't dare to say any more, and bowed his head down.

Li Zhi asked, "These ancestral halls are out of place!" ”

Hearing Li Zhi's words, Gao Ligong was dumbfounded and asked in surprise, "Lord Wang... Is it going to be demolished? ”

Li Zhi paced a few steps around the room.

"It's going to be transformed!"

The three subordinates stared at Li Zhi, not understanding how he was going to transform this ancestral hall.

Li Zhi said: "This ancestral hall is a religious facility after all. The religious facilities that I need in the nine provinces are not the cult of personality of the widows, but the spirit of science, the norms of the legal system, and the idea of public morality. ”

"We need to transform these ancestral halls that worship widowed individuals into places that promote science, the rule of law, and public morality."

Gao Ligong was surprised and asked, "How to transform it?" “

Li Zhi frowned and said, "Do you still want me to think about this?" “

Gao Ligong lowered his head and turned his head quickly. After a while, he raised his head and said, "Lord, the minister thinks that the people support the prince and enter the ancestral hall to worship the prince, so the statue of the prince should still be kept." “

Li Zhi was noncommittal.

Gao Ligong continued: "But we can work on the shape of the statue. I think the word Gongde can be written on the chest of the statue in the main hall with gilded characters. Then let the statue hold a large card in his left hand and write two characters on it. Holding another big card in his right hand, the word science is written on it. “

Li Zhi pondered for a while and nodded.

Gao Ligong was overjoyed when he saw Li Zhi nodding, and said: "We can also force the local ancestral hall to remove the statues of the gods in the gatehouse and the front hall, and set up three big cards of public morality, legal system and science." If the people want to make incense, they can only incense these three brands. “

Li Zhi nodded again.

Zheng Hui was not to be left behind, and also said: "Lord Wang, you can organize the Taoist priests in the ancestral hall to be trained. Let the Taoist priest explain to the people who worship in the ancestral hall that the reason why the prince became the prince and the reason why one town and nine provinces became one town and nine provinces is to rely on the spirit of science, the norms of the legal system, and the idea of public morality. “

"Let the people also be influenced by the Taoist priests when they worship, and they will be exposed to it."

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Yes!" ”

Zheng Hui's face was overjoyed, and he secretly said that he would atone for his sins.

Li Zhi was silent for a while, then glanced at the three important ministers under his command.

"I am very disappointed that I have concealed the news of the ancestral hall this time. I trusted the three of you, but what you did didn't deserve my trust in you. “

The three men were so frightened that they all knelt on the ground.

"The minister is guilty!"

"Death penalty!"

Li Zhi knocked on the table and said, "I'll give you another chance and trust you again." If there is any concealment in the future, you will be sent to an overseas island to be the governor, or at worst, a case will be opened for investigation and dealt with seriously. “

"Jinghai Zhixian has been investigated and punished. Have you seen this example? “

The Jinghai County case has now been basically investigated. The Yang brothers were sentenced to 30 canes for destroying the statue, and Qiu Kedu was sentenced to 60 canes for organizing resistance. Those who participated in the fight and injured others were each punished with cane or even death. The magistrate of Jinghai County, who led the police to storm Shanxi Street and threatened to kill the Yang brothers and provoked a fight, was beheaded.

The three important ministers were all sweating finely, and they were prostrate on the ground and did not dare to speak.

Li Zhi sighed, waved his hand and said, "Okay, let's do it!" “

The three of them were relieved, got up from the ground, and withdrew from the Qinzheng Yuan in small steps.