Zhu Youzhen didn't say anything immediately, but looked at the time again before saying, "I already understand the general idea of the household, I need to think about some time, you can step back first." ”

Although he did not get the direct approval of the emperor, the emperor did not categorically deny it, and Guo Yunhou and Ji Ji couldn't help but have some expectations in their conscience.

With the departure of Ji Jiliang, the cabinet ministers began to rush in. 9 cabinet ministers, Chongzhen himself, Wang Chengen and Yao Shiheng, a total of 12 people.

For Yao Shiheng, this scene made him a little nervous, after all, the few people here were not big people he could get so close to before.

"I said that the first cabinet meeting after the holiday will discuss the work plan for the cabinet ministers for this year, I wonder if you have already thought about it?"

Huang Liji and the others looked a little unnatural, they originally thought that the emperor was just talking, and they had long forgotten this inexplicable request.

So everyone looked forward to Ai Ai and said what they were accustomed to in the past. In Zhu You's listening, they just recounted their daily affairs.

After patiently listening to the speeches of the ministers, Zhu Youzhen was silent for a moment before he spoke: "What everyone said is very good, but there is a lack of initiative. I would like to ask, what kind of country do you think we should build the Ming Dynasty into in the end? In other words, when you enter the Cabinet, what is the highest ideal of the current Cabinet? ”

After Huang Liji looked at his colleagues on the left and right, he asked with some uncertainty: "Your Majesty, what does this highest ideal mean?" ”

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while, and then said: "For example, Yugong's ideal is to remove the mountain in front of the door, so what is the ideal of this cabinet composed of you?" ”

"Didn't Your Majesty say something like self-cultivation to govern the country and level the world?" Shi Fenglai couldn't help but speculate on Chongzhen's thoughts and said.

"That's pretty much what it means, but you're talking about personal ideals, and I'm talking about cabinet ideals." Zhu Youzhen said.

Huang Liji said with some uncertainty: "What Your Majesty said is: the journey of the Great Road, the world is for the public." The selection of talents and abilities, the belief and harmony, so that people do not only kiss their relatives, do not only have sons and sons, so that the old have the end, the strong have usefulness, the young have growth, the widowed, lonely and the sick, all have support. Men have a share, and women have a home.

If you abandon the goods on the ground, you don't have to hide them for yourself; The power of evil does not come from the body, and it does not have to be for oneself. It is because of the plot to close up and not to prosper, to steal and thieves not to do it, so to do not close the outside household, it is said to be the same thing..."

Huang Liji is talking about the ideal social form described by Confucius in the Book of Rites and Rites. This is also a society that many capable people with lofty ideals strive to achieve.

Zhu Youzhen only thought for a moment before he determined one thing. In this era, if you want to gather people's hearts, there is no better slogan than Datong society, just like the call of later generations to finally build a ** society.

"That's it, I think the first thing the cabinet does is to establish a supreme goal and build Daming into a Datong society." Zhu Youzhen affirmed without hesitation.

Zhu Youzhen's words made several cabinet ministers look at each other, and Huang Liji didn't want to make himself the laughing stock of public opinion in the government and the opposition.

He said with some embarrassment: "Your Majesty, the Datong society is the ideal of a saint, how can a minister dare to boast of establishing a Datong society that even a saint can't realize?" What's more, the term of office of the ministers is only two or ten years, and the Datong society will be built within ten years. ”

Other ministers also felt the same way about Huang Liji's statement, thinking that Chongzhen seemed to be too childish in his country.

Zhang Ruitu also said cautiously: "The Datong society mentioned by this sage is known to everyone as long as it is a scholar, and we really don't need to repeat it again..."

Zhu Youzhen interrupted him and said: "Everyone who reads knows that there is this ideal, do the people of the Ming Dynasty know how many officials have worked hard for this ideal?" ”

The originally relaxed expressions of several cabinet ministers suddenly disappeared, and they felt a little uneasy about Chongzhen's questioning.

Others can be silent, but Shoufu Huang Liji had to reply to Chongzhen out loud, and he replied with a little weakness: "I think most officials have worked hard for this. ”

Zhu Youzhen did not refute Huang Liji, but followed his words and said: "In this case, why can't we tell the world that the scholars of the Ming Dynasty are officials in order to build the Datong society that the sage said?"

I have never asked you when to build this Datong society, I have only asked you to ensure that all the decisions you make now are aimed at achieving this goal in the future.

To borrow a phrase from Yugong, although I die, there is a son. Sons beget grandchildren, grandchildren beget sons, sons beget sons, sons beget grandchildren; Children and grandchildren, infinite scarcity; And if the mountains do not increase, why suffer and be uneven

Datong society will not run away, it is there. As long as we take one step forward every day, step by step, we will one day achieve this goal. But if we don't even have the courage to say what we want to do, who thinks we've worked for it?

As for your fear of people laughing, I think it's a good thing. The ancients: Shame and courage, presumably in order not to make people laugh, you must always have to do something to come out. ”

Only then did Qian Qianyi realize that when it came to promoting moral slogans, the young emperor was not much worse than the Donglin Party.

Huang Liji felt a little headache, Chongzhen put such a high hat on the head of the cabinet, if something went wrong in the cabinet, wouldn't it become the target of public criticism.

Perhaps among the scholars of the Ming Dynasty, there were indeed some people who wanted to achieve the ideal of a saint. But the vast majority of officials in the Ming Dynasty only pursued glory, wealth and dazzling power.

Even if it is these 9 people in the cabinet, who can do it to the world. But none of them would stand up and tell the emperor that the purpose of their entry into the cabinet was not to build a Datong society. If someone really does this, it is estimated that they will be impeached to death by Yanguan Qingliu.

As a result, although the cabinet ministers scoffed at the emperor's statement, the construction of the Ming Dynasty into a Datong society, as the highest ideal of the Ming Cabinet, was adopted with the approval of all the cabinets.

Zhu Youzhen looked at the ministers who raised their right hands in agreement, put down their right hands with satisfaction, and said: "Everyone agrees, which shows that we still have a common will to build a better society. In the future, when you decide on important matters in the cabinet, you can vote by a show of hands, and the minority obeys the majority, which I think is very good, and of course the first assistant has a veto power. ”

Huang Liji asked a little confused: "What is the right of veto?" ”

"That is, as long as the first assistant votes against something, even if everyone else is in favor, it can't be passed."

"What if the minister is in favor and everyone else is against it?" Huang Liji asked subconsciously.

"That still didn't pass." Zhu Youzhen said without hesitation.

Huang Li realized that he seemed to have asked a stupid question, and he immediately closed his mouth.

When the ministers were still struggling with how to build this Datong society, Zhu Youzhen spoke again.

"Building Daming into a Datong society is our highest ideal, not a year or two can be built, and even after several generations, we may not be able to achieve this highest ideal.

All in all, none of us here can see this goal achieved because it is too far away. So we're going to divide this maximum goal into several stages, and first set a minimum goal that we can do. ”

Whether it was Huang Liji or Qian Qianyi and other ministers, they finally breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts, in their opinion, the emperor had finally regained his senses and no longer talked about the illusory ideal of a saint.

Although the officials of the Ming Dynasty were very willing to use the moral words of the saints to restrain the emperor's behavior, it did not mean that they were willing to be treated in the same way by the emperor.

"The minister thinks that this minimum goal can be set as the security of the country and the people." Zhang Ruitu hurriedly asserted that he was deeply afraid that the emperor would say another goal that the cabinet could not achieve.

Zhu Youzhen just looked at him, and then vetoed: "This goal is still too high and too empty." We need to set it lower and more specific, so that the court officials and the people can understand it as soon as they hear it. ”

"So what does Your Majesty mean?" Huang Liji had to ask out loud.

"Solve the problem of food and clothing for the people of the Ming Dynasty. I thought that all the people under the Ming Dynasty should be able to meet the minimum basic material needs of people, such as food and clothing. ”

The minimum goal proposed by Chongzhen is indeed not high, but for the cabinet ministers, this goal is even more difficult to accomplish than the national peace and security they just proposed.

In the minds of these bureaucrats, national peace and security only means a state in which there will be no war in the frontier and no civil unrest in the country, and this state can still be achieved reluctantly with a little effort.

However, in order to solve the problem of food and clothing for every Ming people, even if it is a prosperous era of Renxuan that "officials are competent for their duties, the government is level, the discipline is repaired, the warehouse is full of envy, Lu Yan is happy, and the year cannot be a disaster", it cannot guarantee that the people of the Ming Dynasty in remote areas can solve the problem of food and clothing.

Among the ministers present, except for a few people such as Qian Qianyi, who were born in the families of Jiangnan gentry, they did not have much sense of emotion about this issue. Huang Liji, Xu Guangqi, Guo Yunhou and several others were either born as small landlords, or they had seen the living conditions of the people at the bottom of the Ming Dynasty, and they knew very well that the emperor had put forward a goal that could not be completed at all.

As a supporter of Chongzhen, although Xu Guangqi thought that this minimum goal seemed difficult to achieve, it was also his personal political ideal, and he had communicated with the emperor for a long time, and he was the first to speak out to support the emperor's opinion.

Qian Qianyi and Shi Fenglai immediately kept up with Xu Guangqi, thinking that only by keeping in line with the emperor could they not be marginalized in the cabinet.

With the support of the three ministers, Huang Liji and other ministers finally gave up the idea of pouring cold water on the emperor, and they hesitated a little to express their support for the minimum goal set by Chongzhen.

After winning the support of the cabinet for the highest and lowest goals of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youzhen finally breathed a sigh of relief, and really wanted to decide something, and narrowing the number of people making decisions was the king.

It is much easier and quicker to persuade nine cabinet members to accept their ideas than to convince hundreds of civilian and military officials at a court meeting.