Looking at Huang Liji, who looked terrified, Zhu Youzhen did not have any emotional changes, and he said in a calm tone: "I would rather die in silence, and I would not live in silence." ”

The resolute meaning revealed in Chongzhen's bland words made Huang Liji finally fall into contemplation, if he made such a request to him when the emperor had just ascended the throne a year ago, I am afraid that he would choose to say a few perfunctory words, and then he would immediately write a letter to the emperor when he returned.

Although the reasons that the emperor said are basically close to the reality of the Ming Dynasty, it does not mean that he is willing to jump into this fire pit with his life. If you challenge the gentry class in the world according to the emperor's will, the hope of victory is slim and not to mention, if the thing fails, Chongzhen is still the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but his Huang Liji's fate may not be much better than Zhang Jiangling.

However, in the year since Chongzhen ascended the throne, he obeyed the emperor's wishes and actively implemented the new policy in the court, and has long been regarded by the officials of the court and the central government as the mastermind behind the reform of the new policy.

It is better to be seen as the mastermind behind the New Deal than to be seen as a puppet of the emperor in implementing the New Deal, at least his reputation will not be tarnished by this.

This rumor also greatly improved his standing before the emperor, so that officials who were willing to support the new policy were firmly rally around him without any unwanted thoughts.

Because of this, Huang Liji also acquiesced to this rumor. And while he was seen as the leader of the New Deal, he also became a thorn in the side of those who opposed the New Deal and those who opposed the Donglin Party.

In the eyes of these government and opposition officials and doctors, he has also been upgraded from Wei Zhongxian's fellow party to the current mastermind of the eunuch party in the DPRK and China. Huang Liji knew very well that there were many officials who hated him in private and gritted their teeth and wanted to pull him off the horse in order to achieve his own name.

It's just that he is now in the prime of life, so those officials who hate him have been holding back. But just a few days ago, wasn't there a group of scholars who had already attacked him in front of the emperor, so it can be seen that there are not no people inside and outside the government and the opposition who want to deal with him.

If the situation in the Ming Dynasty is not as bad as Chongzhen said, or if Chongzhen's determination to fight the gentry class is not so resolute, Huang Liji will dispel whatever he says, this crazy plan in the emperor's mind.

But the current Da Ming is indeed about to fall into the vicious circle of chaos and chaos, and Chongzhen, who has a clear understanding of this, has taken out the determination to break the net and attack the gentry class.

Since Chongzhen was already so open and honest in front of him, he would never be allowed to refuse easily, and he would either continue to stand with the emperor or become the emperor's enemy.

Whether Chongzhen can deal with those gentlemen or not, the victory or defeat is still between the two, but if you want to deal with him, the head of the Ming Dynasty, as long as the attitude is slightly biased towards those Donglin Party members in the future, the stain of his eunuch leader has not been washed away.

Huang Liji thought about it for a long time, and felt that he still had to persuade Chongzhen again, at least delay the time, and not let him be caught off guard to go to war with those gentlemen.

"Your Majesty has this determination to get rid of maladministration, and if you want to prosper the Ming Dynasty, the minister is very happy in his heart, but determination does not mean confidence. Even if the minister is willing to obey His Majesty's orders and fight against those gentry regardless of life and death, there is only one person after all, and there are countless officials in the government and the opposition who are willing to support the gentry and oppose Your Majesty.

His Majesty is now in his youth, and if he wants to weaken the gentry's control over the place, he can still think about it in the long run. The minister asked His Majesty to make plans first, and then support His Majesty's wings, and wait until His Majesty's wings are full in the court, and then put forward a safe plan and implement it slowly, so that the turmoil in the world will be minimized. ”

Zhu Youzhen didn't object immediately, but he didn't accept it either, he was silent for a while before asking, "According to what Mr. Huang said, how long will it take?" ”

Huang Liji suddenly replied quickly: "The minister thinks that in five years, the implementation plan can be started, and there will be a slight success in ten years, and it will be able to achieve full success in twenty or thirty years, which is already considered a victory." ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said, "According to Mr. Huang's opinion, this is really too slow. Can it last for twenty or thirty years with the current state of the Ming Dynasty?

Let's not talk about the future, let's talk about the current policy of the Henan gentry opposing the imperial court's land and grain requisition, how do you plan to solve it? Do you want me to return the land and grain to them? So what do I do to help the victims of the disaster in Shaanxi, and what do I put into the workshop to start work? ”

Huang Liji was asked by Chongzhen's questions, and he was quite in a hurry, and after a while, he whispered: "But if this matter is too urgent, there will still be chaos." Your Majesty forcibly forced the gentry of Henan to hand over the land and grain, don't you think that the gentry everywhere will have the sadness of the death of rabbits and foxes? At that time, the gentry from all over the country will support those Henan gentry, will Your Majesty also forcibly suppress it? ”

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while, and then said to Huang Liji: "I have a few ideas, why don't Mr. Huang staff for me, is it feasible?" ”

Hearing that Chongzhen had no intention of backing down, Huang Liji had no choice but to sigh in his heart, and said: "Please also ask Your Majesty to make it clear, and the ministers will listen to it." ”

Zhu Youzhen simply got up from his seat and began to pace back and forth in the room, he said while thinking: "I have been reading the records of Zhang Jiangling's original Wanli New Deal these days.

During his reign, he was in a position of power, so the implementation of the New Deal was unstoppable. But once he dies, he will die and be in politics, and even his family members will not be able to protect him, which is really suffocating.

Although I regret what happened to him, I have also learned some lessons. Even if we implement the new policy and enforce it to the localities with the central power, even if it succeeds for a while, it may not be able to last forever.

If we want the New Deal to be accepted by the public, we must first let the people accept the new ideas that can make the New Deal continue, for example, the new school at Yenching University is good, and everyone who has learned the new policy will re-understand the world we live in and be willing to accept new things. Therefore, the implementation of the new school and primary school compulsory education system is the foundation for cultivating and supporting the people of the new policy.

Although this can be done slowly, the cabinet must put it in the first place, and it must be grasped as a top priority.

Second, although Zhang Jiangling's new policy is good, the target he relied on to implement the new policy is problematic. The target of the damage of the Wanli New Deal is the vested interests of the Ming Dynasty, but the officials who implemented the New Deal are also part of the vested interests, how can you expect a group of rats to catch another group of mice.

When Zhang Jiangling, the presiding officer of the Wanli New Deal, died, these two groups of rats will join forces, and the Wanli New Deal will naturally not exist.

I believe that in order to implement the New Deal, we must first cultivate a new class that will benefit from the New Deal. For example, the gentry of the Ming Dynasty mostly relied on land to maintain their lives and status, and we had to guide those gentry who were willing to move closer to the imperial court and support the new policy to hand over their land, and then invest their funds in various industrial and mining industries.

In this regard, the gentry in Beizhili and Shanxi are doing well, and some gentry in Shandong are also willing to invest in setting up cotton textile factories. Our New Deal policy is to support these gentry who have given up their land, so that they can feel the benefits of the New Deal. Naturally, they would not incite the local people to rebel against the new policies introduced by the imperial court.

In the end, the implementation of the new policy could not be achieved overnight, because there was no such close connection between the gentry in various places, as long as we followed the step-by-step process, we could break the resistance of the gentry in each province.

For example, in this Henan incident, although it seems that there are many officials who support the Henan gentry and oppose Xu Xianchun and Yang's cultivation, there may not be many officials who are really willing to protect the Henan gentry and fight the court to the end.

Of course, we can't just suppress the opposition of the Henan gentry without explanation, and always have to give people a step down.

Therefore, I will let people go down to thoroughly investigate the violations of law and discipline when Xu Xianchun and Yang Suoxiu acted in Henan. Then the imperial court made some big things out to divert the attention of the officials of the government and the opposition, so that the affairs of Henan did not seem so important. Then, in a few months, we can announce the results of the investigation in a low-key manner and put an end to the Henan incident. ”

Huang Liji's heart was shocked when he heard this, and finally he couldn't help but say, "What is the so-called big thing of Your Majesty?" ”

Zhu Youzhen stopped, looked at him and said, "I look at the column and say: All things are born, and only people are precious. That's a great thing. Man is the head of all things, but why do slaves and maids exist?

I have always known myself as the kingdom of heaven and the state of etiquette and music, but now I am enslaved by the countrymen, is it really in line with the spirit of the sages? In the past, Confucius reproached Zigong for ransom people and let them pay for it, thinking that in this way, there would be no rich people from Lu to redeem Lu people in the future. It can be seen that Confucius did not approve of the existence of slaves and maids.

Therefore, I decided to release the officials and slaves in the government and the Ministry of Education, and let them leave if they were willing to leave, and if they had nowhere to go, they would re-sign the employment contract.

But in addition to official slaves and maids, there are also private slaves and maids in the world, and whether these private slaves and maids should also abolish their slavery status, I dare not be self-dedicated. Therefore, it was decided to ask the provinces to recommend virtuous people and go to Beijing to discuss this matter. Mr. Huang, do you think these two things can make the gentry from all over the world divert their attention? ”

Huang Liji was a little dumbfounded, he couldn't help but say: "Abolishing the slavery of the world is not a trivial matter, the minister thinks that once this decree is issued, I am afraid that the opposition will be far greater than that of Henan." Is Your Majesty thinking about it again? ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled at him and said: "The voice of opposition is louder, which will naturally overshadow the condemnation of the Henan incident." It doesn't matter if we can abolish slavery or not, but we've solved at least one troublesome thing, haven't we? ”

Huang Liji felt that his head hurt a little, and in order to solve a troublesome matter, Chongzhen actually chose to provoke a bigger trouble, which really overwhelmed him.

When Huang Liji was still silent, Zhu Youzhen continued to say to him: "I have already thought about it, we were too gentle with these Henan gentry before, so they still have the strength to jump out and embarrass the imperial court.

I felt that if I wanted to shut up these Henan gentry, the imperial court should be more strict. Let them know that it's not the worst yet. ”

"What does Your Majesty mean?"