Regarding Yuan Keli's submission on behalf of the Henan gentry, Zhu Youzhen was really silent for a long time before he said to the old minister: "If those students didn't go down last year, they had this attitude, I would naturally be happy to accept it."

But now, the investigation report brought back by the students of Yenching University has made the public opinion in the entire capital boil, and even I can't easily suppress this trend of criticism of the inferior gentry in Henan.

Otherwise, wouldn't the public opinion of the people and the resentment of the people of Henan turn to the imperial court and to me? Why did I bother to lift a stone, but I hit myself in the foot. ”

Regarding Chongzhen's words of evasion, although Yuan Keli was skeptical in his heart, he said in his mouth: "Your Majesty is the lord of the Ming Dynasty, as long as Your Majesty gives this order, who in the world will dare to resent Your Majesty?" The gentry of Henan are also His Majesty's people, and I ask Your Majesty to have mercy on them. ”

The room fell into a long silence again, looking at Yuan Keli who went out to confront the emperor today, Wang Chengen, who was standing beside the emperor, didn't even dare to come out.

However, Chongzhen did not become angry as he guessed, stimulated by Yuan Keli's persistence. After pondering for a long time, Zhu Youzhen spoke again: "Most of the deeds done by the inferior gentry in Henan can actually be regarded as civil disputes. It's just that these gentry rely on their local power to make it impossible for the victimized people to obtain justice.

These things do not only happen in Henan, but also occur from time to time in various parts of Daming, but the degree is only severity, and the number of incidents is just a matter of magnitude. The root cause of such a problem lies in the fact that the Ming Dynasty has always said that the imperial power does not go to the countryside, and in addition to the taxation and levy of forced labor, as well as the various contents stipulated in the Ming Law, local officials will not intervene in disputes between the people as long as they do not take their lives.

Most disputes between the common people are usually mediated either by the village elders or by the local gentry. For example, the Jiahuitang formed by the gentry of Foshan managed most of the local affairs, and even the local Nanhai County had to respect the public opinions made by these gentry.

Of course, I don't mean that the local gentry manage local affairs, but they want to oppress their neighbors and steal the people's land and children. However, with the exception of Foshan Jiahuitang who still had some achievements in presiding over local affairs, most of the local gentry became the emperors of their own land.

There is basically nothing they cannot do for the people living on their own land except that they cannot blatantly take people's lives. There are as many gentry as there are gentry in a county, and there are as many independent kingdoms as there are.

In the past, when the majesty of the imperial court was still there, these gentry also knew how to restrain some deeds. But now that the Ming Dynasty is in internal and external troubles, the behavior of these gentry in the local area is even more lacking in supervision.

In the current situation, if you want to use the power of the center to suppress the evil deeds of the local gentry, it will undoubtedly have to invest a lot of resources, and the imperial court does not have this power for the time being. But picking out a few key areas to make an example, the imperial court can still do it.

Originally, I hoped to take advantage of the incident in Henan to clean up the scum among the gentry, so as to deter the lawless people in the world. lest someone take advantage of the internal and external troubles of the Ming Dynasty to have any thoughts that should not be had. ”

Although Chongzhen's tone of voice was extremely stiff, Yuan Keli's face remained the same, and he listened to Chongzhen's opinion quietly. For him to ask to see the emperor today and plead for the Henan gentry, he is actually not without confidence.

As Chongzhen said, the situation facing the Ming Dynasty today is really dangerous, and the slightest carelessness is the crisis of the world being turned upside down. There have been rumors circulating among the people since the Wanli Dynasty, saying that the time of the death of the Ming Dynasty is not far away, and even many scholars and doctors are convinced of this.

Yuan Keli himself is a supporter of change, and he also believes that if the Ming Dynasty does not carry out institutional reform, I am afraid that it will really be difficult to return. But he opposes Chongzhen's current reform policies, which he believes are too radical.

Da Ming is now like a patient who is seriously ill and only has one breath left to hang for his life, but what Chongzhen and Huang Liji prescribed is not a prescription for consolidating the foundation of Peiyuan, but a medicine for tigers and wolves.

In Yuan Keli's view, if the Ming Dynasty is not reformed, it will last for decades, but this reform will force the gentry all over the world to stand on the opposite side of the imperial court, and the local government has lost the suppression of these gentry, so don't you want to make a mess.

What's more, the ministers that Chongzhen relied on to implement reforms, in addition to technocrats such as Xu Guangqi, were former eunuch party members such as Huang Liji and Wu Chunfu. Seeing that these people were presiding over the overall situation of the reform, Yuan Keli was a little pessimistic about the results of the reform.

Compared with most scholars, Yuan Keli was still relatively sober, and he knew very well that the rule of the Ming Dynasty was actually the emperor sitting in the same boat with the officials and gentry.

Without the emperor's orders, officials and gentry lost their nominal and legitimate authority to govern the local population. And without the support of officials and gentry, a single emperor would not be able to govern such a large country.

Whether it is Chongzhen or the local gentry, a stable and orderly society is in everyone's interests. It is not surprising that a chaotic and disorderly society not only weakens the influence of the central government over the local government, but also causes the majority of people to lose control of their land and even become impoverished.

Therefore, safeguarding the interests of the Henan gentry and safeguarding the interests of the imperial court are essentially two sides of the same coin. Yuan Keli thought about it for a long time, but still decided that as long as Chongzhen had no mental problems, he would not kill the Henan gentry cleanly. Take 10,000 steps back, even if the gentry in Henan are cleaned up, won't the imperial court still want to support a group of new gentry to come out, otherwise who will do things for the imperial court in the local area?

Yuan Keli's guess was not far from reality, although Chongzhen still hesitated in his heart. But he knew that he still had to show a tolerant attitude towards the submissiveness of the Henan gentry. After all, Henan is only one of the provinces of the Ming Dynasty, if the Henan gentry soften, he will continue to struggle, I am afraid that the gentry everywhere will be under the sorrow of the rabbit and the fox, and the sympathy for the Henan gentry will be on the rise in public opinion.

And the Jiangnan gentry, who are more powerful than the Henan gentry, am afraid that they will not submit to the imperial court again in the future. After a pause, Zhu Youzhen made up his mind and continued: "The imperial court will not stop the crackdown on the local tyrants and inferior gentry, and it is the local local tyrants and inferior gentry who should be stopped.

Even if Yuan Shangshu intercedes for them, the law of the country is still the law of the country, and it cannot be abandoned. However, as Yuan Shangshu said, although the imperial court's case-handling team in Henan has made remarkable achievements, the scope of the attack is somewhat too wide, and the intensity of the attack is also somewhat out of control. For this phenomenon, the imperial court should still strengthen supervision.

We can't spare a bad person, but we shouldn't wronged a good person either. Therefore, I believe that the Criminal Department can send personnel to Henan to verify the cases that have already been concluded, supervise the cases that are currently under trial, and rehabilitate the obviously unjust, false and wrongly decided cases.

As for the migration of the population to Jeju Island and Taiwan Island, in order to enrich the local population, so that it will become the real territory of our Ming Dynasty. This is a century-old plan that cannot be easily abandoned. As a gentry who enjoys the preferential treatment of the state, of course, he must set an example. Therefore, families that have already migrated do not need to be recalled.

For those who have not yet departed, April 15 is the cut-off line. Those who have already left before continue to relocate, and those who have not yet departed after paying the immigration fee of 5 ordinary families can be exempted from the relocation order. After April 15, the policy on the relocation of Henan's population overseas was temporarily frozen.

The levy of immigration fees is used exclusively to recruit displaced people to emigrate overseas, and the Prime Minister Yamen is responsible for this. In addition, I intend to follow the story of Foshan Jiahuitang in Henan and set up gentry meetings in each county. He was responsible for the construction and development of the local government, and supervised the administration of local officials and the lawlessness of the gentry of the county.

In this way, Xu Xianchun and others can hand over the case in their hands to the local gentry meeting for review and discussion, and the matter in Henan can also be concluded. Of course, after the establishment of the gentry council, no gentry was allowed to exercise private power over the people behind the gentry council.

For example, during the water season, the people were mobilized to compete for water, and the adulterous women were immersed in pig cages. If anyone violates the public opinion of the gentry council, the gentry council may deprive him of all gentry privileges. The court will endorse the gentry council, unless the higher level of government revokes the gentry council of the lower level. ”

Yuan Keli finally breathed a sigh of relief, whether it was the criminal department sending personnel to verify, or setting up a gentry conference to supervise the local gentry, it all represented Chongzhen handing over the initiative to deal with Henan affairs.

In this way, although the imperial court did not make changes to the policy on the surface, the power to deal with specific affairs fell into the hands of him and the Henan gentry. Next, as long as the Henan gentry do not engage in infighting, then the case of the gentry's rebellion against grain requisition caused by the Henan civil uprising will roughly end here.

Yuan Keli hurriedly got up and saluted the emperor and thanked him, expressing his support for the emperor's decision.

However, the matter is obviously not over yet, Chongzhen gently patted the stack of manuscripts brought by Yuan Keli on the table and said, "Mr. Yuan's request, I have solved it. So next, is it my turn to ask Mr. Yuan for a small favor. ”

Yuan Keli maintained a posture of bowing and did not straighten up, and when he heard Chongzhen's question, he couldn't help but be a little surprised, but he still replied: "If Your Majesty has any orders, the ministers should do their best." ”

Zhu Youzhen looked down at the manuscript under his hand and said, "Although the selection of the "General Principles of Civil Principles" is good, I still feel that a basic principle is missing. Therefore, I hope to put a general paragraph in front of the "General Principles of Civil Principles" as the central idea of the entire code. ”

Yuan Keli glanced at Chongzhen with some confusion, and couldn't help but say: "Your Majesty wants to add a holy precept, which is also a matter of course, and I also ask Your Majesty to give it a sign, and after the minister returns, it will be attached to the frontispiece to inform the people of the world." ”

Zhu Youzhen thought about it and said: "I hope to add such a general paragraph, on the basic rights of people..."