In April of the thirtieth year of Hongwu, the Chunqiu fraud case was jointly written to the imperial court by the northern people, and one of the three elders of the imperial court who was reinstated at the beginning of the year, Liu Sanwu, a bachelor of Hanlin, took care of the villagers, and the examiners joined forces to squeeze out the northern Shilin.

Xu Hao was secretly ordered to investigate the case thoroughly, and personally went to the south to investigate whether there was any connection between the Jinshi family and the examiner in the process of studying, and encountered many local obstacles. Ouyang Lun, on the other hand, was aimed at interrogating the chief examiner of the Criminal Department, but was also met with passive resistance from the officials of the Sixth Ministry.

Wenyuan Pavilion, Ouyang Lun, who had already found evidence from the mouth of a certain official, said respectfully: "It has been verified that Liu Sanwu, a scholar from Hanlin, and Zhang Xin, a waiter, and others deliberately deceived Bixia with test papers that were not good at literature and science and had forbidden words, and joined forces to favor the southern people, and the crime of forming a party for personal gain was extremely heinous, and it should be severely punished." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and asked, "Xu Hao, what do you think of this case." ”

Xu Hao said: "Nowadays, the article on the talent of the south is generally more than the north, and the minister thinks that the examiner did not join forces to cheat this time, but it seems fair to take the people based on the article alone, and if you don't take one person from the north, you don't care about the overall situation." ”

Ouyang Lun said coldly: "This is a party for personal gain, thinking that in the past, Li Shanchang, Hu Weiyong and others colluded to control the government, how domineering is the Huaixi Party?" So today, Liu Sanwu and others wantonly promoted the villagers and squeezed out the northerners, who knows if they will repeat the mistakes of the past in the long run? How could it be possible that there was not a single northern lifter among the fifty-one jinshi? It is clearly a bully, Bixia is old and has no time to take care of the imperial examination, and partners to deceive. ”

Xu Hao was extremely disgusted with this matter in his heart, and Ouyang Lun did not hesitate to characterize this case as fraud, which was nothing more than to invite the emperor to favor, and his behavior was certainly cold. But what he said was not untargeted, Liu Sanwu and others deliberately picked bones in the eggs in the articles of the northern scholars when reviewing the test papers, which is exactly what the literati are best at, and they can't avoid any flaws, and deliberately favor the southern scholars.

The way of kingship is balance. It's ridiculous that after hearing the great victory, the southern lifters collectively celebrated with the crown, thinking that they were selfless, fair and just in their hearts, you said that you Liu Sanwu is over seventy years old, even if there is no qualified one in the northern lifter, you dare not admit any of them?

Can Liu Sanwu not know the consequences? He must know very well in his heart, but this is the most helpless and hateful thing about Chinese Wenchen, stubbornness! Self-holding selflessness is stubborn in the death, and would rather die than compromise, for the sake of fame and the ideals in his mind, the older he gets, the more stubborn he becomes.

Often a generation of famous ministers has done their best for the country. His personality may be faultless, and the evil consequence of stubborn adherence to ideas is irreparable damage to the entire country and nation. Liu Sanwu's move to indulge the hidden dangers of the southern scholars to control the government in the future will naturally be worshiped by the southern scholars, and he thinks that he has died as he deserves, and if he is really old and does not die, he is a thief.

Thinking about Zheng He's seven trips to the West, the courtiers disagreed with it, and even did not hesitate to burn the charts and shipbuilding drawings. Can it be said that they do not understand the many benefits of the seafaring trade? Would a literati from the South not know? Would the northern literati not know the proportion of overseas trade in the proud taxes of the Southern Song Dynasty?

The root lies in the fact that Confucian literati despise businessmen from the bottom of their bones and do not want to see businessmen sit big, and among the people Xu Hao knows, there is no one who does not hate mercenary businessmen and the like. This discrimination is everywhere. Xu Hao also doesn't like businessmen, but he keeps in mind that there is no business, no wealth, no farming, no stability, no work, and no strength.

Xu Hao took history as a mirror and found that the causes and consequences of Zheng He's trip to the West and the Tumubao Revolution seemed to be related to the Wenchen teaming up to suppress the warriors.

After Zhu Di ascended the throne, the noble military ministers who participated in the Battle of Jingyan had a high status. Identity reverence for each shili intertwined. This made the low-status civil servants reluctant, and the ministers who initiated the cabinet system had to be lowly civil servants at first, and they were all inferior when they saw the nobles. How can this be tolerated by the ministers who are actually prime ministers?

The ban on the sea again made the power rise day by day, and the high-spirited sailors and generals collapsed, and since then they have lost their usefulness, but in fifty years, the former invincible Daming Sailors in Shijie have been reduced to waste, and the rebellion of the Japanese has lasted for a hundred years.

In the early stage of the Tumubao Rebellion, a large number of strategic areas such as Chifeng in Beiping were inadvertently abandoned, perhaps because they were not intentional, and it was said that the defense line was narrowed to facilitate supply, so that the Tatar troops directly threatened the suburbs of Beijing.

But conniving at the eunuch Wang Zhen to encourage the emperor to drive the expedition in person, Wenchen did not persuade him, so he had to make people think deeply.

Of course, at that time, the three Yang ministers were already old and faint, and the queen mother had also died, and the ticket system made Wang Zhen and the emperor firmly control the imperial power.

Then the noble military ministers and the great eunuchs were almost killed and wounded in the battle of Tumubao, the biggest beneficiary was the civil official group, Yu Qian and other famous ministers worked together to defend the Beijing division to repel the Tatars, it seems that the civil ministers turned the tide of the Lan Kuang Fu Sheji, but did not take the opportunity to recover the lost territory in the north, nor did they suppress the eunuchs and check and balance the imperial power but the same stream, as a result, the Ming Dynasty's national policy changed from aggressive to the contraction of the defense, and later simply evolved into a passive beating.

Since then, generations of scholars have left their names in history, assisted the emperor to govern the world, and left a period of praise for the life of the literati. How wonderful! eliminated the Ming Dynasty's strategy of reckless military force, sang and danced behind closed doors, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment.

Of course, Xu Hao's views are biased, and all Wenchen cannot be blamed, after Zhu Di's death, the hereditary military household system greatly reduced the combat effectiveness of the Ming army, and there were too many incompetent officers of the second and third generations, who only knew how to collect wealth and would not lead troops.

But Xu Hao now believes that in the era when the West is about to rise in an all-round way, Wenchen controls the government as well as eunuchs and warriors control the government, which does not benefit the whole country in the slightest, and the imperial power seems to be retained, because it can suppress all interest groups, and the imperial power does not refer to the emperor.

In modern history, none of the great powers relied on the so-called democracy and freedom to rise, and the criminal industrialization process and the murderous overseas colonization created the political map of the later generations of the great powers to divide up Shijie. Even if the United States had not relied on the Civil War to gain strong centralized power, coupled with its unique geographical location, how could it achieve Shijie hegemony?

In the Wenyuan Pavilion, Xu Hao, who was unwilling to get involved in the so-called dispute between the north and the south of the literati, stopped talking nonsense and remained silent, which made Zhu Yuanzhang very disappointed.

After coming out, he glanced at Ouyang Lun, who was proud of the spring breeze, and Xu Hao returned home with a frown. Soon the emperor issued an order to posthumously designate Liu Sanwu as Lan Yu's rebel party, and sent to the border pass, and more than 20 people, including examiner Bai Xin and Zhang Xin, were executed by Ling Chi, and the rest were punished.

Zhu Yuanzhang has rich experience in politics in the end. Admitted the Jinshi in the Spring Examination, personally presided over the palace examination, and then selected 61 people from the north, which opened a precedent for the north and the south to take scholars.

During the entire period of the North and South Bang case, Xu Hao acted very low-key and did not offend anyone. And Ouyang Lun acted in a high-profile manner and insisted on investigating to the end, and even personally sat in the execution as a prison officer, winning the respect of the northern Shilin and offending the southern Shilin.

As a result, in July, a tax inspector of the Heqiao Division of Lantian County was beaten by Zhou Bao, Ouyang Lun's family, and he was humiliated and exposed to the imperial court that Ouyang Lun smuggled tea out of the country for huge profits.

This led to the reuse of Ouyang Lun. Zhu Yuanzhang, who intended to promote his son-in-law to be the commander of the Jinyi Guard, was disgraced, and despite his daughter Princess Anqing's pleading, he ordered Ouyang Lun to be killed.

In the study, Xu Hao, who learned that Ouyang Lun was dead, stared at the black knowledge on the treetops outside the window. He looked calm.

Li Qiu sighed and said, "I didn't expect Noble to affect his family, it's so confused, why do you believe in the second young master and not us?" ”

Xu Hao turned around and didn't speak, and Li Qiu secretly glanced at the young master. He lowered his head and said, "The second young master has been looking for the handle of Ouyang's horse, and Noble has gradually become impatient because the young master has been asking him to wait for instructions, so he told the third young master that he was instructed by the young master to join the Ouyang family." tried to get an official and a half-position, but who knew that the third young master was ruthless, and even Noble was betrayed. ”

Xu Hao still didn't speak, and Li Qiuxin asked in a low voice: "Young Master, the Noble family was killed halfway, could it be your hand?" ”

"You think I did it? Oh, no wonder you're mistaken. Xu Hao was very surprised, and then relieved, "Let me tell you the truth, I placed the treasure in the Ouyang family by the will of the Holy Lord." ”

Li Qiu breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "It turns out that the Holy Master has already known, and the little one said that the young master would not be so ruthless, it seems that the second young master misunderstood, in order to prevent the treasure from exposing the young master and you, so as to affect our Xu family, so he secretly took action." ”

"Perhaps, alas!"

Xu Hao sighed, and after Li Qiu left, he laughed at himself: "How do you know that Xu Ji wants to take the opportunity to take my life, if he gets a treasure, it is too late for him to protect Noble and enter Kyoto." ”

The secret door in the middle was gently pushed open, and Zhou Peng and Mu Yi walked out, and Xu Hao said, "Sit down." ”

Mu Yi shook his head and said: "It's good for the subordinates to stand, and finally this trip is not dishonored, Yu Songjiang Mansion took advantage of the unpreparedness of the officers and soldiers, and Zhou Baojia did not leave a single living mouth." ”

Xu Hao smiled bitterly: "I didn't expect my Xu family to kill each other, which made you see a joke." On the same day, I found out that Ouyang Lun violated the law, and I didn't want to expose the matter because I was old in Bixia, but I didn't expect to be taken advantage of by others, and I was almost implicated for shielding Ouyang Lun. ”

Mu Yi said coldly: "Xu Ji disregarded brotherhood, and dared to covet my cousin, and his subordinates would personally take his life sooner or later." ”

Zhou Peng participated in Xu Hao's secret matter, and he was surprised and frightened, and hurriedly persuaded: "Anyway, Lai Bao is already dead, so this matter will be stopped, and it is better to guard against Xu Wen and Xu Ji in the future." ”

Xu Hao had murderous intent in his heart, and said mildly on his face: "What Brother Zhou said is right, I can't be unrighteous if he is unkind." By the way, Brother Zhou, this time Zhang Xin and they all got their wish to get the Jinshi, but they couldn't help you, it's a pity. ”

Zhou Peng knew that he had gotten on the thief ship, and said with a smile: "What's the pity of being inferior to people?" I have seen through the officialdom in this imperial examination, it is nothing more than the protection of officials and monopolies, it is better to be a doorman for you at ease, are you willing to take it in? ”

Xu Hao was overjoyed, stood up and gave a deep salute, "It's really good to do what you want." “

Zhou Peng said with emotion: "I think I Zhou has no skills, and I have spent half my life in order to be an official and have spent half my life so far, if it weren't for your support over the years, your sister-in-law and I would have died of poverty and starvation." ”

Xu Hao said with a smile: "With my brother's talent, I will get ahead sooner or later, so I don't have to rush for a while." ”

"Don't say these polite words, it's not interesting." Zhou Peng smiled, "I'm very curious, this time, Zhao Hesong, Zhang Xin, Sun Tao, and Yu Peng's four friends are all jumping into the dragon gate, how will you arrange it?" In the past two years, they have been sent by you to travel to the Korean and Japanese countries, and after they came back, they all said that their eyes were opened and they had gained a lot of experience. ”

Xu Hao said with a smile: "You listen to them talk nonsense with their eyes open, in their hearts, they are just small countries and widows, but their horizons have indeed increased a lot, small countries have the advantages of small countries, there are many things worth learning from my Han people, arrogance is not advisable." ”

Xu Hao paused and said: "They go to stay with their own imperial court to arrange, what I need is friends who are interested in serving the country and the people together, there is no need to form a party for personal gain, just hope that they can uphold the public heart in the future." ”

Zhou Peng suddenly said relaxedly: "It's best if you think like this, I'm really afraid that you will make a big deal out of the big guys, and the friendship between gentlemen in this regard is as light as water, in the final analysis, they are taking the road of Wenchen." ”

"Yes, Wenchen Road." Xu Hao sneered in his heart. (To be continued......)