Chapter 300: Discussing politics on the plateau, working for the government on an empty stomach, causing political chaos and corruption among the people! This Hai Rui is so vicious!
Yan Mansion, the ancestral courtyard.
Yan Song, Yan Shifan and Yan Shaoting, three generations of grandfather and grandson, gathered together.
"Congratulations Grandpa, father has made a breakthrough in cultivation and has taken another step forward on the path to immortality!" At this time, Yan Shaoting already knew the specific cultivation realm of Yan Song and Yan Shifan, which was the late stage of Refined Void!
After reaching the stages of refining the void, integrating the body and achieving Mahayana, one will ascend to become an immortal!
In other words, if he is lucky, two immortals will appear in his Yan family in the near future.
Just now, Yan Shaoting had learned from his father and grandfather that the emperor could arrange a heavenly calamity.
What does this mean? It means that before the Mahayana stage, the path to immortality can be said to be smooth. As long as you practice step by step, if it doesn't work, you can go to the Qiankun realm to practice again.
Breaking through to the Mahayana stage is almost a certainty.
How could this not excite him?
The development goal of the Yan family's immortal clan is to have its senior members become immortals one day in the future and always follow the emperor's footsteps.
In this way, the Yan family can rest assured to develop an eternal and immortal family. As long as the Ming Dynasty is not destroyed, the Yan family will not be destroyed. Now the Yan family is more than one step closer to this goal.
"Get up," Yan Song nodded with a smile. Looking at his middle-aged grandson who was becoming more and more calm, he stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Shao Ting has worked hard in the past ten years."
Yan Shifan, who was in a good mood, also had a smile on his face.
Looking at this son, he felt more and more satisfied, and at the same time he admired his son's state of mind.
Be neither arrogant nor impatient, and always be consistent!
Faced with such a great opportunity to cultivate in the Qiankun Realm, he was able to face it calmly. This state of mind made Yan Shifan feel inferior to him!
You must know that at the beginning, the emperor brought the six ministries of the cabinet and many important ministers into the Qiankun Realm for seclusion and training. After that, the Ming Dynasty was going to enter the interstellar era and conquer outer space. They had already anticipated that the Ninth Prince would definitely take advantage of this time to launch a fight.
If we fail to take advantage of the cabinet and the six ministries to delegate power and accumulate enough foundation for the future interstellar era, it will be equivalent to being completely eliminated.
As a neutral family that has only defected to the emperor, the Yan family will inevitably be targeted by the Ninth Prince.
Therefore, the Yan family must have someone who can take charge of the overall situation, and this person is undoubtedly Yan Shaoting.
In fact, compared with the cabinet and other families in the six ministries, the Yan family is already lucky.
At least the Yan family can pass the family to the third generation, but people like Zhang Juzheng can only pass the family to the second generation. This time, the elders of the cabinet entered the Qiankun realm to practice.
There is also a sense of competition and fighting between them. In addition to the gap in their own cultivation realm, there are also aspects such as descendants, future, family, etc.
Obviously, among the families of the cabinet elders who stayed in the Ming Dynasty to preside over the overall situation this time, only the third generation descendants of the Yan family and the Xu family were capable of taking on the important task, while people like Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng could only choose the second generation to preside over the overall situation.
If the second generation, such as Zhang Jingxiu, Gao Wuguan, and Zhao Dingzhu, can also enter the Qiankun realm to practice, then there will be two more top practitioners in the family, and the strength will inevitably be stronger.
Unfortunately, not everyone in the second generation of the cabinet can compare with Yan Shifan and Xu Fan.
Precisely because the Yan family has won over others in all aspects this time, whether in terms of family or successors, how could Yan Shifan not be satisfied with Yan Shaoting?
Even in Yan Shifan's view, his grandsons, Yan Suzhi and Yan Yuncong, are capable of shouldering the heavy responsibility.
After a few more years of polishing and training, there is no doubt that the fourth generation successor of the Yan family will be born.
Well, plus he and his father Yan Song, both of them now live for thousands of years, which is enough to cultivate more talents for the family.
In this way, even if one day they leave this world and ascend to the fairyland, the Yan family will surely stand forever.
One day in the future, when the Ming Dynasty develops into a world as vast and magnificent as the world of immortal cultivation, the Yan family will also develop into a force such as a super sect or a family.
When he thought of this, Yan Shifan felt unprecedented comfort in his heart and wanted to roar out loud.
The Yan family is getting better and better now, and he feels very happy!
"However, Grandpa, Father," Yan Shaoting clasped his fists and bowed to the two of them, saying, "The emperor's oral instructions today said that the plateau should discuss politics and reward and punish according to merits and demerits. In my heart, I do..."
"Don't pay attention to it." After listening to Yan Shaoting's concerns, Yan Shifan waved his hand without waiting for Yan Song to speak, saying, "Rewards and punishments are not based on these ten years in the human world."
"No?" Hearing this, Yan Shaoting was stunned, and then he seemed to have thought of something, and suddenly said: "Could it be that the pressure inside and outside the Ming Dynasty is beginning to increase?"
"That's right." At this time, Yan Song took over the conversation and said slowly: "In today's Ming Dynasty, the population has skyrocketed to more than 3 billion. Such a population is already excessive..."
"But for Ming Dynasty and what Ming Dynasty will do in the future, a population of three billion is nothing."
"Even if it skyrocketed to 10 billion, it's not a cause for concern," Yan Song said in a gentle tone, while Yan Shifan and Yan Shaoting listened carefully. "The problem is that among these 3 billion people, many resources are not being used reasonably, but are being divided up and accumulated."
"In other words, the resources are being divided up by the upper echelons of power."
"This led to a sudden increase in social pressure in the rapidly developing Ming Dynasty with a population of only 3 billion, and conflicts broke out next."
“Although social conflicts will increase day by day due to insufficient resource allocation, this should never happen in just a few decades. The current situation is wrong.”
"The four stages of land reform were implemented in order to wait until the internal social contradictions of the Ming Dynasty broke out in the first two stages, and then to start the era of war and external expansion."
"This is how you release the internal pressure!"
"The previous 'big grain crisis' was one of the triggers for the conflict."
"Later, I proposed the 'Spirit Stone Trade', which completely solved the 'Giant Grain Crisis' and accelerated the Spiritual Energy Industrial Era, allowing the internal pressure of the Ming Dynasty to be released in a non-war way."
"All overseas countries will be incorporated into the Ming Dynasty. The whole world will be the Ming Dynasty. With such a large plate, it stands to reason that the current Ming Dynasty is far from being able to develop enough. We need to enter the interstellar era."
"However, the Emperor wanted to speed up the development, so he entered the interstellar era ahead of schedule."
"But now, the internal pressure is actually keeping pace with the development speed of the Ming Dynasty. What does this mean?"
Yan Song looked up at Yan Shifan and his son.
At this point, Yan Shifan didn't need to say much, he had already seen it, and the key point was to make Yan Shaoting understand.
"Grandson understands." Yan Shaoting nodded with a serious expression. He has been smart since he was young and can understand many things at once.
In fact, ever since the Ming Dynasty began to share the world between families and the imperial court, the division of resources among the upper echelons of power was an inevitable trend.
The emperor understands this in his heart, but he has his own set of standards.
That is, you can only move if I allow you to, and you cannot move if I don’t allow you to.
What the emperor always cares about is balance.
This balance refers not only to the balance between various forces in the court, but also to the balance of resources in the entire Ming world.
Everything must be centered around the development of the Ming Dynasty, with other things serving as a supplement.
But now, these officials have ignored it.
They thought that they were not making any mistakes and were developing the immortal way in their own fields step by step. The more family sects they established, the better their political achievements would be. However, they ignored the fact that the increase of family power meant the division of resources. How could the local officials not realize this?
As a qualified official, one should take this into consideration and have a keen awareness, instead of being blinded by immediate political achievements, focusing only on hard work and failing to look at the overall situation.
The imperial court gave you immortal magic and immortal salaries, and allowed you to become immortal cultivators who surpass ordinary people. Is this all you are capable of?
After so many years, there has been no progress, and they still do things according to the "slow standards" of ordinary officials. They are just wastes.
If the officials of the Ming Dynasty were able to look at the overall situation, have a bottom line in their hearts, and know how to relax and work hard when developing their political achievements, how could resources be divided up and social conflicts be caused?
How could the Emperor not be angry with such dereliction of duty?
"Grandpa, what will the emperor do?" Yan Shaoting said in a deep voice: "The various forces in the Ming Dynasty today can be said to be clearly divided. Even the seventh-rank officials at the bottom can be traced back to the senior officials of the six ministries, and even the cabinet and the kings."
"The resources have been divided up, but the local immortal endowment is real. Do we have to release the resources?"
"Of course not," Yan Song said slowly, picking up an ancient book on the table and saying, "Social contradictions come from the contradictions among the people, and from the dissatisfaction of the lower classes with the upper class's division of resources. All they need is a little guidance."
"Now it's just a sign, so we just need to pick out a group of incompetent officials with poor talents and families with little potential who are needed by the court and deal with them."
"After this, future officials will know what to do after receiving some pointers from their respective factions."
"And the people will not complain about the upper cabinet or the six ministries. After that, with the guidance of the spiritual network, the situation will be calmed down."
"So, don't worry too much about the plateau political discussion in three days, about rewards and punishments for merits and demerits."
After listening to his grandfather's brief remarks about the current contradictions in the Ming Dynasty and his suggestions for dealing with them, Yan Shaoting became more and more impressed and bowed, saying, "Grandson has learned a lot."
"Well, go down and have a rest, recharge your energy, don't forget that there will be 50 years of 'year-end bonus' in three days." As he said this, Yan Song suddenly smiled like an old fox.
Seeing Yan Song's smile, Yan Shaoting looked at Yan Shifan, who was also looking at him with a smile in his eyes.
"Go, you will know when the time comes." Yan Shifan didn't say much, just waved his hand.
"Yes." Seeing this, Yan Shaoting did not force it. After bowing, he turned around and left the study.
The same scene happened in the cabinet and many younger generations of the immortals in the six ministries. They were all panicked by the phrase "reward and punish based on merit and demerit", but they all felt relieved after being reminded by their elders.
Well, as long as it doesn’t involve them in the capital, it’s no big deal.
Isn't it just about dealing with a group of officials under their respective command, bringing them out to show off to the people, and then announcing that the Ming Dynasty has entered the interstellar age and internal resources will skyrocket again?
At that time, the people's dissatisfaction will be transferred to those officials who do not take action, and their demands will also be placed outside the region.
The officials in the capital city calmed down after being comforted by the cabinet and the six ministers. However, the officials of all ranks in the prefectures, states, districts, and counties under the various provincial governments were in a panic.
The plateau political meeting three days later is a notice to all officials. After all, officials of all levels need time to prepare their political achievements.
However, for all officials, what they care more about at this moment is the phrase "reward and punish based on merits and demerits".
Therefore, all the provincial governors, provincial judges, prefects, county magistrates, etc., began to contact their superiors as soon as possible.
But this time, the masters in the capital city showed no intention of giving any definite answer.
Even some close relatives, when they asked in the capital, only got a cold "wait" from the masters.
For a time, all Ming officials felt insecure.
They had no idea what was going on and were constantly reflecting on their political achievements over the years.
Well, is there anything wrong? It can be said that the total amount of Xiandao's talent has increased. Even if the highland political council will be held accountable, it won't fall on me, right?
In this way, a group of officials of all levels in the Ming Dynasty, who were waiting anxiously and apprehensively, were ready to present all the political achievements of the 150 years of Jiajing from the 100th year of Jiajing to the present day.
……
The third day of the first lunar month in the 150th year of the Jiajing reign.
This time, there was no more auspicious snow on the plateau, but rather heavy rain and snow. As noon approached, the ministers began to appear.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz..." Above the gloomy sky, a curtain of golden beams of light descended from the sky, and officials walked out of it.
On the lawn where the highland government had previously held meetings.
A huge stone table appeared, and tree chairs on the ground broke out of the ground and turned into tree chairs that came behind the official.
After a while, the kings, Qingfeng, Chanshuang, Lu Bing, the cabinet, the Imperial Household Department, Hai Rui, Tang Shunzhi and other important officials took their seats on the huge stone table.
Outside the stone table, provincial governors, provincial judges, provincial governors and other high-ranking officials began to sit around.
"Buzz." As the last huge golden light curtain fell, four figures appeared behind the main seat.
Seeing this scene, the ministers naturally knew that the emperor had arrived, and they all stood up immediately.
But what makes everyone curious is that the person next to the emperor should be Lu Fang, but who are the other two voices?
"Your subjects, respectfully welcome the Supreme Great Luo Celestial Being, the Purple Extreme Immortal of Longevity, the Holy Wisdom of Zhaoling, the Ruler of the Three Origins, the Evidence of Yuxu, the Chief of the Five Thunders, the Xuandu Realm, the Wanshou Emperor, may our holy emperor rest in peace!"
Although they were thinking this in their hearts, everyone did not slow down at all and knelt down to salute.
"I'm fine, please sit down." Jiajing appeared and said.
At this time, everyone discovered that there were suddenly two more seats on the left and right of Jiajing. The seats of Prince Yu and Prince Jing, who were originally sitting on the left and right of Jiajing, were moved back one position.
At this time, everyone also saw clearly the two young women standing behind Jiajing. They had extraordinary temperaments and different expressions, and they all suddenly understood.
It turned out to be Princess Hejing and Princess Ningshu.
Prince Yu and Prince Jing were originally nervous, but they immediately smiled when they saw that the people coming were the fourteenth and fifteenth sisters.
Princess Hejing, Zhu Wanyi (yi), was named just like her title. "Wan" means gentle and beautiful, and "yi" means docile and virtuous.
The whole person is generous, gentle, quiet and well-mannered.
In comparison, Princess Ningshu, Zhu Wanling, seemed a bit more lively and active. Although she was given the title of Ningshu, her behavior was very different from that of a lady, and her eyebrows were full of alertness.
His big watery eyes blinked as he looked at the ministers present. He was not at all nervous and his eyes were full of curiosity.
Unlike her elder sister and Princess Jing, who were well-mannered and had a natural royal dignity, she truly treated everyone as ordinary people.
When the ministers saw that the emperor actually brought two princesses to the plateau to discuss politics, they all knew in their hearts that the future of these two princesses would not be ordinary. Was the emperor trying to be a kind father?
Yan Song and others thought about it and felt relieved.
The current emperor has reached the end of his cultivation and possesses infinite unpredictable power. It is unknown when he will make another breakthrough, so it makes sense for him to accompany his daughter.
They always remembered what the emperor said in Qiankun Territory when he told them why they needed the power of the mortal world.
"As your cultivation improves, your life level continues to transform. You can no longer be called human."
"But you are ministers of the Ming Dynasty, and you cultivate immortality and pursue freedom in heaven and earth. If you have no emotions and are not tainted by the mundane world, how can you serve the country and care for the people of all races?"
"We are just mortals cultivating immortality, there is no need to give up our mortal hearts!"
The emperor in the Mahayana period would always think about accompanying his daughter and keeping a mortal heart, so people like me cannot slack off.
Thinking of this, Yan Song and others felt a chill in their hearts.
"Let's start." Jiajing said lightly after motioning the two maids to sit next to him.
Lü Fang understood, stood up and looked around at everyone, then said, "Everyone, according to the old rules, we will first review the achievements and merits of officials of all levels in the prefectures, states, districts and counties under the various provincial governments."
"After that, the cabinet and the six ministries will review the governors, and finally the emperor will review the cabinet and the six ministries with his imperial seal. Let's begin."
After saying that, Lu Fang swung the whisk in his hand, and golden rays of light fell into the hands of many officials.
A large number of reports on political achievements also appeared on the stone table.
In the current Ming Dynasty, the lowest level of cultivation among the provincial governors, provincial inspectors, and provincial governors is in the late stage of Qi training, while the average level of cultivation has reached the early stage of foundation building.
In addition, with the introduction of instrument spirits into the Ming Dynasty, all major companies selling photo stones have introduced instrument spirits, making the photo stones smarter and able to assist their owners in handling many tasks.
Some officials at the level of provincial governors even have specially refined image-retaining stones, and the spirits of the weapons are all living spirits.
Therefore, the performance evaluation this time can be said to be very fast.
In less than six hours, the political achievements of low-level officials in the Ming Dynasty were evaluated.
However, the provincial governors, provincial governors, provincial governors and other high-ranking officials froze in their expressions when they saw the performance ratings of many of their officials.
The overall performance rating of all officials is shockingly low, only seventh rank, which is almost unprecedented.
Almost all reports on political achievements contain an eight-character comment from the imperial seal.
"If you follow the government on an empty stomach, the government will be in chaos and the people will suffer."
These eight words can be said to be a complete contradiction.
The former refers to working on an empty stomach, describing a person who is dedicated to the public good. It is an obvious compliment.
But the latter refers to political chaos and the people's fatigue.
These two contradictory words are like a knife that cuts off the achievements of all officials.
"Why, why is this happening?" Some people didn't quite understand, such as Richard Sutherland, the Governor of the British Government, who looked left and right with a confused look on his face.
Well, it’s not that he didn’t understand the meaning, but he didn’t understand how two such self-contradictory words could become the sharp blade of the imperial seal to cut off the political achievements of officials of all levels.
Of course, there were several other governors and censors from overseas provincial governments who were as confused as he was.
Some officials who were born and raised in the Ming Dynasty had been immersed in officialdom for countless years and understood it almost instantly.
Many provincial governors took a deep breath at this moment, and finally understood why when they contacted the masters in the capital three days ago, they only got a cold answer of "wait".
It turns out that this is what the emperor meant by "reward and punish according to merit."
Working for the public on an empty stomach, political chaos and people's corruption, if you connect the whole thing, it expresses the same meaning!
That is, today's officials of all levels in the Ming Dynasty, while pursuing political achievements, ignore the laws of resource allocation and the interests of the people, resulting in chaotic political management and hardship for the people.
Management is chaotic? People are suffering? Well, if they can't even understand this, then they have lived in vain.
In fact, in today's Ming Dynasty immortal cultivation society, social contradictions have already begun to emerge in the allocation of spiritual resources.
That is, the major families and chambers of commerce that benefited from the dividends of the times early on are becoming richer and richer, but they have not benefited from the dividends of development. Even in recent years, the living space of the younger generation born later has become increasingly narrow, so that society has become more indifferent and full of resentment.
As local governors, they naturally have a "God's perspective" and can see these signs from the annual data, but they choose to ignore them.
There is no way around it because they all want to improve so badly.
If you stop and pay attention to the bottom layer, then you will drag down the total immortal endowment of the entire province.
At that time, what will happen to the assessment and performance level from above? There is no way! Unless everyone tacitly stops, stops blindly pursuing performance development, and ensures a moderate degree of relaxation.
But, how is this possible!
Now, the meaning from above is very clear. Since you are unwilling to keep in step, the leaders will take action personally.
All the provincial governors have realized that this time the cabinet, six ministries, the Inspectorate and other higher-ups have unanimously approved it.
I'm afraid that a large group of officials will be dealt with this time, but I don't know whether the knife will fall on themselves.
For a moment, everyone became nervous.
The lower official is suffering, how can your superiors feel good? It depends on how far you will pursue this matter.
At the long table, Hai Rui looked at the performance ratings that the emperor had given to everyone, with a cold light flashing in his eyes.
"Humph!" He snorted coldly on the spot, saying: "The Great Ming Dynasty will rule the universe and all races in the heavens in the future!"
"It's hard to turn a big ship around. As officials of the Immortal Dynasty, everyone is a cultivator, but their vision is still so short-sighted!"
"I am truly ashamed of the court and the people," Hai Rui said, and he stood up and clasped his fists towards Jiajing, saying, "Your Majesty, I think these people should be severely punished!"
Seeing the excited Hai Rui, everyone looked over.
Yan Song, Xu Jie and other old foxes looked at each other, and they all looked at each other with their eyes and noses. To them, Hai Rui was the most suitable person for this kind of job that would offend others and their own people and attract hatred!
"Tell me what you think." Jiajing leaned back in his chair comfortably and raised his chin towards Hai Rui, motioning him to speak.
Hearing this, Hai Rui looked around at the provincial governors, and everyone who looked at him subconsciously looked away.
Hai Rui is now the head of the Inspectorate.
Everyone knows the temper of Hai Gangfeng, the famous painter.
You should know that the Ministry of Justice had to go through him when compiling the "Great Ming Immortal Law". In the eyes of Ming officials, this person was a typical "cruel official".
Even though Hai Rui has been very well-behaved over the past few decades and nearly a hundred years, concentrating on compiling and revising the "Great Ming Immortal Law" and seldom taking action to punish corrupt officials, no one thinks that Hai Rui is worldly-wise.
Now that he has taken action personally, there is a chance that someone might die.
After getting Jiajing's nod, Hai Rui said coldly:
"According to the Great Ming Immortal Law, any official who causes the Immortal Dynasty to suffer political chaos and corruption will have all his cultivation abolished, be exiled to other planets, or be forced to serve in a spiritual energy factory!"
"Now that the spiritual energy factory has been relocated to the outer stars, we will exile them to the outer stars and put the spiritual energy factory to work."
"Hiss!" Hearing Hai Rui's ruthless move of exiling all officials and forcing them to serve in the spiritual energy factory, everyone subconsciously took a breath and thought to themselves:
"This Hai Rui is so vicious!"
This Hai Rui is really stubborn and dares to speak out. Isn't he afraid that all the officials under him will counterattack and eat him alive before they die?
"..."
(End of this chapter)
