Hearing Chongzhen's defense of Su Changqing, Huang Liji was even more indignant in his heart, although he didn't know where this Su Changqing was, but obviously he had a great influence on the young emperor in front of him, which was by no means a good phenomenon.

Huang Liji accused more severely: "Your Majesty, although this Su Changqing keeps talking about the people of the Ming Dynasty, how can he have the idea of a monarch in his heart? If the people are patriotic and not loyal to the king, is it also right? His generation is just a reckless stream, who wants to coerce the will of the people and control the monarch's father. In the eyes of the old minister, it should be the story of Confucius punishing the young man..."

After listening to Huang Liji's remarks, Lu Qi, who was standing in the corner, suddenly raised his head in astonishment and quietly glanced at Chongzhen's face. Huang Liji didn't know, but he knew very well that this Su Changqing was just a pen name used by the emperor to cover himself. Although Huang Liji's identity will not be punished, it is very likely that he will lose Chongzhen's trust.

Zhu Youzhen twitched the corners of his mouth, but he was not angry because of this, he still said calmly: "This matter of Confucius punishing Shaozheng is what Zhu Wengong also said in the past:

If there is little righteousness, then it will be doubted. Cover the "Analects" does not contain, Zisi and Mencius do not say, although the "Zuo's Spring and Autumn Period" is falsely and refuted and still unreasonable, it is the Duxun situation, it is a must Qilu Confucianism, angry at the dereliction of duty of the sage, so it is said to boast of his power.

You see that even Zhu Wengong thinks that this matter is suspicious, Mr. Huang is very knowledgeable, how can he take this as an example? And I also don't think that Su Changqing taught the people to be patriotic and disloyal to the king in this article. Mr. Huang should not be overly brain-filled. ”

Huang Liji frowned, and said to Chongzhen with some dissatisfaction: "No matter whether Su Changqing thought so in his heart when he wrote this article, but when this article is published, it will inevitably give the people of the world a wrong guide, if someone with a heart uses this as an excuse in the future to incite the local people to oppose the policies issued by the imperial court, Your Majesty, you will never obey?" ”

Huang Liji's words really made Zhu Youzhen speechless, inciting public opinion to check and balance the government, which was originally the specialty of the Donglin Party. This article in the Daming Times, in Huang Liji's view, is undoubtedly inciting public opinion for those local gentry, and it is no wonder that he, the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, ran over so angrily.

Zhu Youzhen pondered for a while, and then continued to persuade Huang Liji: "Mr. Huang's worries are indeed possible, but we should also see that allowing limited public opinion to participate in the decision-making of the imperial court may not all be disadvantages.

For example, since the beginning of the year, how many new policies have been implemented in other places except the Gyeonggi area? ”

Huang Liji was immediately stopped by Chongzhen's question, but he quickly reacted and said: "Your Majesty, although you are out of Gyeonggi, the speed of implementation of the new imperial court policy is different. But in general, the area north of the Yellow River is still well implemented. It's just that there are too many gentry in the south, and there are too many interests involved, so it's a little slower.

However, aren't these southern gentry's excuses for resisting the new policy of the imperial court under the banner of unwillingness of the local people? Isn't this article published in the Daming Times just giving them a look? ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and replied disapprovingly: "These gentry can oppose the new policies issued by the imperial court under the banner of local public opinion, can't the imperial court use public opinion to fight back against them?" I think the best way to deal with public opinion is still public opinion. What matters is whose public opinion the people of the world approve of. ”

Huang Liji shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty is not thinking too optimistic, scholars and scholars, these Jiangnan gentry are all local snakes, they have lived in the local area for generations, and they have married each other with local big families, which can be described as intertwined and powerful in the local area."

Most of the local people are also attached to the lives of these gentry families, and who will stand up against these gentry and wealthy families because of a dead letter issued by the imperial court. The new policies issued by the imperial court, the local officials' governance of the localities, where can these local gentry be bypassed?

Isn't the so-called public opinion of the imperial court the public opinion of these gentry and wealthy families? Does Your Majesty think that they will oppose themselves? ”

Huang Liji was worried that Chongzhen would make a wrong judgment, so he simply showed the reality of the Ming society in front of the emperor.

Zhu Youzhen was silent for a while after listening, he stared at Huang Liji's eyes for a long time before he replied seriously: "Mr. Huang is really loyal to me, and he is even willing to be honest with me like this. ”

Huang Liji twitched the corners of his mouth, made a wry smile and said: "Your Majesty, now the minister and you are grasshoppers tied to a rope, don't you still need to promote the cabinet in the end?" The minister just felt that this matter was inappropriate, and wanted to plug this loophole in advance. Otherwise, not to mention whether this new policy can be implemented, I am afraid that even the DPRK and China will have another turmoil. ”

Zhu Youzhen suddenly smiled and said, "Mr. Huang's thoughts are a little different from mine, and I don't think things are necessarily so pessimistic. It is true that these gentlemen are all local snakes, but they have been operating in the local area for so long, how can they be harmonious, there will definitely be some contradictions.

In addition, what the gentry can control is only the local people, while the imperial court represents the public opinion of the entire Ming Dynasty, and the interests of the individual must not resist the interests of the collective, and the interests of the collective must also give way to the interests of the country.

If the people of the Ming Dynasty are ordinary people, then the gentry can represent the interests of a small group at most, and the imperial court includes the interests of all the common people and small groups.

As long as the policies issued by the imperial court are conducive to the interests of all the people of the Ming Dynasty, what big waves can be set off by the resistance of a small group? What is important is whether the Cabinet has considered who will benefit from the policy when formulating the policy.

If the policies issued by the cabinet are only for the welfare of a small number of people, for example, for the benefit of me, then naturally they will not be approved by the people. But if the policies issued by the imperial court can benefit the majority and the interests of the minority suffer, then will the people of the Ming Dynasty not approve of it? At the very least, the people who benefit from it will always support the imperial court.

For example, in addition to those Henan gentry and officials, there are also some Donglin Party members who oppose the grain and land requisition in Henan, and the gentry and officials in Shaanxi and Shanxi have stood up to support them?

Yesterday, a few Shaanxi officials wrote a letter demanding that 150,000 stone of grain be transferred from Henan to Shaanxi as soon as possible before the roads freeze, so that the victims of the disaster in Shaanxi would not run out of food after the winter? Don't they know where the grain comes from? They are now writing the book, which is an indirect support for Xu Xianchun and Yang Shuxiu.

Therefore, Mr. Huang, public opinion is a double-edged sword, it is not only a sword in the hands of the Donglin Party and the local gentry, but also a sword in the hands of the imperial court.

What the cabinet has to do is to ensure that the imperial court is the representative and the only representative of the Ming people. If someone wants to blackmail public opinion to gain self-respect, the imperial court should not hesitate to crush him, instead of making concessions to these thieves who steal public opinion. Otherwise, what authority does the imperial court have at all? Without an authoritative court, is it still a court? ”

Chongzhen's words suddenly made Huang Liji a little restless. If Chongzhen's words are spread, it will inevitably cause an uproar, and the emperor wants to start a war against the entire gentry class of the Ming Dynasty.

What makes Huang Liji most distressed now is how he should explain to the young emperor that the entire ruling order of the Ming Dynasty is based on the local autonomy of the current gentry, and the civil official group, including him, is also a member of the gentry.

The emperor's desire to oppose the local governance of the gentry class was in essence digging the foundation of the Ming Dynasty, which was completely digging his own grave.

His face changed for a long time, and Huang Liji finally said cautiously: "What Your Majesty just said is not a solution. However, the minister hoped that His Majesty would understand that since ancient times, the imperial power did not go to the countryside, and it was an immutable principle for local officials to rely on the local gentry to govern the localities.

If, according to His Majesty's words, the gentry are deprived of the right to govern the local people, then who will arrange for the people to pay taxes and serve the government? If you want the power of the imperial court to go directly to the township, how many additional officials will the imperial court have to manage? If you want to pay these officials, how much more taxes will you have to pay to the people? At that time, I am afraid that the people of the world will really be ruined. ”

Chongzhen, who was originally leaning forward and leaning on the desk, suddenly leaned back, his body was close to the back of the chair, his hands crossed to protect his chest, and after a while, he said slowly: "Mr. Huang, you also said that it has been a practice since ancient times that the imperial power does not go to the countryside.

However, the current Ming Dynasty is still no different from the China of the past? I will not speak of the years of famine, but of the land and the population. Throughout the ages, there was an era that could be compared with the Ming Dynasty today, not to mention that the plains and hills have been deserted, but even the deep mountains and huge valleys are populated.

Today, the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty has reached the peak of its prosperity, but there are very few places for the Ming Dynasty to be cultivated. The rich have a lot to do with the county, and the poor have little place to stand. However, the gentry and wealthy families were still not satisfied, and even wanted to snatch the last copper plate in the beggar's bowl.

Dare to ask Mr. Huang, if you look at it from the perspective of history, where will my Ming Dynasty go next? ”

Huang Li was speechless, not knowing how to answer Chongzhen's scathing question. If it was a year ago, he would definitely tell the young emperor in front of him that the other party was thinking too much, and it was better to learn how to govern the country, as long as there was a Ming monarch, the Ming Dynasty would naturally return to the leisurely and peaceful years he had spent in the past.

However, in the past year, because of the implementation of the new policy, the re-statistics of the population and economic data of various places have been re-counted, although these statistics are very rough, but they are enough for the officials living in the temples to get a glimpse of a real Ming reality.

Zhumen's wine and meat stink, and there are frozen bones on the road. This is no longer a poetic lament, but the reality of the Ming Dynasty.

If you look at it from a historical point of view, even if there is no slave building and years of famine, the number of Daming's qi is coming to an end. It's just that Huang Liji didn't dare to think about this idea before, but now he doesn't dare to say it.