Chapter 134: Sharp Disciple, Pleased Emperor
Fasting and offering sacrifices is a Taoist ritual.
Most ordinary people pray to the gods at home, and occasionally go to a temple to burn some incense and kneel down to worship the statues of gods.
But praying seriously is not easy.
Buddhism has rituals, Taoism has fasting and offering sacrifices.
Fasting and offering sacrifices is a Taoist ritual, which is very grand.
What are the Yu Bu, what are the spells, what are the memorials...
Oh, and there has to be musical accompaniment.
The scale of fasting and offering varies from person to person. Jiajing Emperor's father, Lao Xing Wang, worshipped Taoism, so Jiajing Emperor followed suit. In addition, he was weak since childhood, so praying for blessings became a common occurrence for him.
After ascending the throne, especially after retreating to the Western Garden, Emperor Jiajing spent a lot of time practicing Taoism.
Of course, praying for blessings requires offering a petition.
Qingci is the document in which mortals report to gods.
Emperor Jiajing had a high level of literary accomplishment, and his Qingci was very elegant. As his prime minister, writing Qingci was a necessary skill. For example, Xia Yan, Yan Song, and later Xu Jie were all good at writing Qingci.
The Taoists walked in the Yu step and muttered something.
In the smoke, a eunuch walked up to Huang Jin and whispered something.
Huang Jin hesitated for a moment and walked to the side of Emperor Jiajing.
"His Majesty!"
"Ok!"
Emperor Jiajing opened his eyes, frowned and said in dissatisfaction: "Didn't you say that you can't disturb me unless it's something important?"
Huang Jin said: "The gentleman from Prince Yu's side was furious and said..."
Emperor Jiajing took a deep breath and said, "Go ahead!"
"Yes." Huang Jin said, "The Attendant Scholar Fang Yue said that Prince Yu is a heretic."
"This crime is not a small one. Does this idiot want to destroy the third brother?"
Emperor Jiajing looked at the Taoists, stood up and said, "Let's take a rest for a while."
The Taoists were stunned, and the leader bowed, "Your Majesty, this is a critical time for fasting and offering sacrifices, you must not leave lightly. Otherwise, the gods will blame you..."
Emperor Jiajing placed the whisk on the table and said, "Please ask for leave for me and put it aside for now."
The Taoists looked at each other in bewilderment, wondering what big event must have happened that caused Emperor Jiajing to abandon the fasting and offering sacrifices ceremony without fear of offending the gods.
"Children and grandchildren are all debts. I thought this was funny when I heard it in the market. Now it seems that it is indeed a debt."
Emperor Jiajing sighed.
When they arrived outside Prince Yu's residence, a eunuch turned around and tried to run inside. Huang Jin pointed at him and sneered, "Run! Run for us and see."
The eunuch knelt down, and Emperor Jiajing walked out of the study and waved his hand to signal him to stop making trouble. Huang Jin pointed at the eunuch, suggesting that he was lucky today.
In the study, the tutor Fang Yueyang was holding Prince Yu's homework in his hand. "I asked Your Highness to write an article on business. How did I teach him? And how did Your Highness write it?"
Prince Yu said, "Master, you said that merchants are vulgar and value profit over morality, so they should be isolated. It is best not to care."
"So what did Your Highness write?" Fang Yue glanced at the homework. "I took a look and the whole article is just four words: Don't ignore it!"
"Exactly."
Prince Yu spoke in a firm voice. Outside, Emperor Jiajing nodded slightly, thinking that although his son was a little dull, his stubbornness was very much like his own.
"Stupid!" Fang Yue slapped the table and said bitterly, "Since Lord Chang Wei came to the capital, His Highness has become even more unorthodox. Merchants are full of the stink of money, but His Highness said that they should be taken seriously, and valued as much as farming... What kind of logic is this?"
Tsk!
As important as agriculture, the third brother must have drunk too much... Although Emperor Jiajing was obsessed with commercial taxes, he did not agree with businessmen, and did not think that commerce was as important as agriculture.
Business is more like the ruler’s chamber pot, which can be used when needed and kicked away when not needed.
Prince Yu said, "Business determines what is available. In ancient times, the people were simple and honest. They only needed cloth to cover their bodies, food to fill their stomachs, and some oil and salt to be satisfied. Merchants were dispensable. Times have changed. Nowadays, people's food, clothing, housing and transportation are all related to business. A duck knows when the river water warms in spring. If there is a problem in business, the people know it first."
This is not wrong, but it has nothing to do with the topic, right?
Huang Jin could hear it all, and Prince Yu's answer was somewhat irrelevant to the question.
He glanced at Emperor Jiajing, who frowned slightly, obviously dissatisfied with Prince Yu's answer.
"Sir, you said that you don't need to care about such a business that is closely related to the world. I don't agree with you!"
"What world?" Fang Yue was angry. "Where does the world in the title come from?"
Hey!
Emperor Jiajing sighed secretly, thinking that his son's answers were becoming increasingly confusing.
How dull!
Prince Yu said: "Business is closely related to the people. Isn't it closely related to the world?"
"You...what did you say?" Fang Yue pointed at Prince Yu and asked again, "What did you say?"
"I say, the people are the world!"
Emperor Jiajing's body trembled, as if he saw Prince Yu sticking out his neck.
The people are the world?
"What do you mean by 'the people are the world'?" Fang Yue lowered his voice, "Your Highness, do you think that what Emperor Taizong said was sincere? The people are water and the emperor is the boat. Water can carry the boat, but it can also overturn it!
But Your Highness has forgotten that it is the scholars and officials who decide the direction of the world! Not the so-called common people! "
That's right.
Huang Jin couldn't help but sigh when he saw Emperor Jiajing nod slightly, thinking that Lord Wei had actually taught Prince Yu to become so pedantic.
Your Majesty will probably make a new decision.
But it’s not a bad thing for us.
Huang Jin felt that some of the things he had lost seemed to have returned.
For example, the emperor’s trust.
"Sir, you said that it was the scholars who determined the direction of the country. Then I would like to ask, who caused the fall of the Former Han Dynasty?"
what!
Prince Yu actually started to fight back... Huang Jin was surprised.
"Bastard eunuch!"
What the hell, is this pointing at a monk and scolding a bald donkey? Huang Jin's eyelids twitched.
"Then let's not talk about Yuan Shao and others who received the grace of the former Han emperor but were ungrateful."
Yuan Shao and others are the spokespersons for the scholar-official group, and the performance of this group during the Western Han Dynasty is difficult to describe in a few words.
"At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the population of the country increased day by day, so that the fields were insufficient to use, and refugees were everywhere. The literati and officials owned good farmland and full warehouses of grain, but they did not know how to provide relief. They watched the starving people everywhere. This was a man-made disaster." "Then there was a drought. The man-made disaster plus the natural disaster triggered the Yellow Turban Rebellion at the end of the Han Dynasty. It swept across most of the Western Han Dynasty. After the chaos, the world was in pieces, which gave the literati and officials an opportunity to take advantage of.
Then I want to ask you, if there had been no Yellow Turban Rebellion, if the people of the world could live and work in peace, would those scholars and officials dare to disrupt the government?"
The young man's voice was excited, "So, who was responsible for the fall of the Former Han Dynasty?"
Huang Jin seemed to see Prince Yu's excited expression, and his heart was shocked.
Is this still the same dull Prince Yu?
"If the people of the world live and work in peace and contentment, whoever dares to rebel will be their enemy. If the scholars and officials dare to cause chaos in the world at this time, will the people follow them? Not only will they not follow them, but with just one word from the emperor, they will throw away their hoes, pick up weapons, and gather under the emperor's banner to fight against the rebels!"
"How dare you!" Fang Yue shouted.
"Sir, please stick to the facts."
Prince Yu and Prince Jing had experienced many debates with Jiang Qingzhi and were no longer the weaklings of Wu.
Huang Jin stole a glance at Emperor Jiajing and saw that he was squinting his eyes, as if he was daydreaming.
"During the Former Qin Dynasty, the First Emperor did not care about the people's strength, so the whole country was in turmoil and was exploited by the remnants of the six kingdoms. This gave Chen Sheng and Wu Guang the opportunity."
Prince Yu's voice became more and more sonorous and powerful, "In the early Tang Dynasty, the literati and officials were obsessed with annexing land, and the population increased day by day, so the equal-field system collapsed, and the military system became a mere formality.
This is the root cause of the decline of the Former Tang Dynasty, not the Yuyang Movement. If the world is at peace, the Former Tang Dynasty can be destroyed by An Lushan in a short time. "
Huang Jin was horrified by what he heard, but Emperor Jiajing still kept his eyes narrowed.
~
"During the Early Song Dynasty, Emperor Huizong was incompetent and favored treacherous officials, which seemed to be the cause of the country's demise. However, before Emperor Shenzong, the number of refugees in the Early Song Dynasty increased day by day, and the prosperity of Bianjing could not cover up the crisis in the world..."
"The former Song Dynasty's rulers and ministers got along well with each other, and the prosperity made people today envious... How come in your words, it has become a place full of dangers?"
There was a hint of intoxication in Fang Yue's voice.
The early Song Dynasty, wasn’t that a paradise for scholars and officials?
"But if it was a prosperous era, why did several emperors from Renzong to Shenzong all launch new policies? Sir, can you teach me?"
Uh!
Fang Yue was stuck.
good boy!
Emperor Jiajing's brows relaxed.
"That's off topic." Fang Yue counterattacked and disrupted Prince Yu's rhythm.
"The Qin and Han dynasties, the Tang and Song dynasties all perished because of the common people. The common people are the same as the world. Do you agree with me, sir?" Prince Yu held on to the key point.
Fang Yue coughed dryly and said nothing.
"Then, since the people are the source of the rise and fall of the world, how can we ignore the business that is closely related to them?"
"Merchants are despicable. They value profit over morality. How can we value them?"
"I didn't say that we should make use of businessmen?"
"Then Your Highness, how do you think the court should treat merchants?"
"Control! Let go! Two words are enough!"
"continue."
"Merchants value profit over morality, and must be managed. If not, they will be driven by desire and become lawless."
interesting!
Huang Jin narrowed his eyes.
"So what about putting it?"
"Let them go, do not control them too much, and let the merchants do what they want within the law."
One tube, one release... Huang Jin could sense something.
"In the management, the most important thing is business tax!"
Huang Jin glanced at Emperor Jiajing.
Emperor Jiajing stood with his hands behind his back, as if he was thinking about something, or as if his mind was empty. But Huang Jin, who knew him well, could see that Emperor Jiajing was somewhat relieved, but also somewhat distressed.
Why?
Huang Jin thought of a possibility and was stunned.
Bah!
There was a sound of slamming the table, and Fang Yue said coldly: "What commercial tax? That's competing with the people for profit!"
Prince Yu laughed and said, "May I ask, sir, what is a citizen?"
It seems like the problem has come back again.
"The people you are talking about, sir, are they the literati?"
"The merchants you mentioned, sir, are they scholar-officials?"
"Where did you hear this rumor, Your Highness?" Fang Yue asked angrily, "Scholars and officials are well-read, how could they associate with merchants?"
"But I have learned that at least 70% of the scholars and officials in the capital are engaged in business! Sir, are these the well-read people you mentioned? If businessmen value profit over righteousness, then the 70% of scholars and officials engaged in business, do they value profit over righteousness? How can such people be employed?"
"Where did you hear this, Your Highness? It's nonsense!"
"I have been checking recently. I have checked many shops in the capital and the store records. Seventy percent is an underestimation. The clerk in the market got a bunch of money from me and said that there are only a handful of scholars and officials in the capital who don't run businesses!"
Prince Yu said in a low voice, "The scholars and officials are making a lot of money from business, but the government is struggling to make ends meet. When it comes to business taxes, all the officials in the court say that they are competing with the people for profits.
I don’t know how poor these people are, that the cost of one meal is equivalent to the common people’s expenses for a month.
I don’t know how rampant this person is, to the point that all the civil and military officials in the court have to speak for him. I don’t know…”
Prince Yu's eyes were slightly red. "I don't know if this will continue. The scholars and officials in the world will become rich, while the people will be displaced. The court wants to provide relief but can only sigh helplessly at the empty granaries and treasuries. I don't know, if we don't care about the merchants, how long will the Ming Dynasty last?"
Prince Yu looked at Fang Yue and said, "Please teach me, sir!"
"Are these all from His Highness Chang Wei Bo?" Fang Yue said coldly.
"Yes." Prince Yu said, "My cousin's insights into business have enlightened me. What I said today is the lesson my cousin gave me."
Jiang Qingzhi defeated Fang Yue with just a random assignment.
Huang Jin felt that the thing he had just gained in his heart seemed to be cut off again.
"Who in the court would agree with such heretical words?" Fang Yue stood up suddenly.
"I!"
(End of this chapter)
