Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 486 Preparing to Establish a Newspaper Office
"Da Ming is short of people, and we are also concerned about this matter." Lao Zhu frowned slightly. "But one size fits all, this matter is one thing, those corrupt officials and stupid officials are another matter."

"Could it be that you want to use my lack of people in Daming to persuade us to kill less people?"

"Hmph, from our point of view, those corrupt officials are not human beings at all. Killing one corrupt official can save hundreds of people's lives! For the sake of the people of Ming Dynasty, we must kill all these corrupt officials!"

"So that the people can reproduce with peace of mind, and don't have to suffer from these people again!"

Old Zhu's words were full of evil spirits. His perception of corrupt officials had never changed. He was still the same Zhu Chongba who had his parents killed by Yuan Ting decades ago and who was at odds with those corrupt officials.Now hearing Zhu Su and Zhu Biao pleading for those criminal officials, I instinctively felt a little reluctant.

"Corrupt officials are naturally unforgivable crimes! Like Zhao Quande, Li Yu and others, not to mention just beheading and abandoning the market, even if you want to peel them all, my eldest brother and I agree with you." Zhu Su said.

"However, corrupt officials are corrupt officials, mediocre officials are mediocre officials, and they cannot be confused. Although mediocre officials may also ignore the matter of empty seals and make this matter a big deal, they are not considered to be using power for personal gain after all. Punishment is of course necessary, but if Like those corrupt officials and principal criminals, all of them were killed, and it is inevitable that future generations will say that my punishment is unknown and the cruelty is too extreme."

"Besides... I told you about the empty seal case for a year. Didn't you procrastinate for so many days to bring up the case? If those mediocre officials are guilty, you have been sitting on the empty seal case for a year, no? Guilty too?"

"This is..." Old Zhu was stunned when he heard the words, and was accused by his son, which made him quite embarrassed. "Didn't we ask Mao Xiang to collect evidence this year, so that we can catch them all at once..."

"Could it be the same as in history, where corruption and corruption are not clean enough, and then they are tossed and tossed over and over again?"

"Besides, Hu Weiyong had just been taken care of at that time, and there was indeed a lack of officials in the court, which allowed these mediocre people to live for another year..."

"There is a shortage of officials in the court, and it's the same now." Zhu Su said. "Now, I have restored Yunnan and Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty. In the future, I will expand the territory and spread my prestige outside the region."

"Which of these places has not been owned by China for a hundred years? They not only need to conquer by force, but also need to be continuously educated and irrigated with our Chinese culture."

"Even, enlightenment is more important than conquest. Only in this way can we truly become the territory of China. Reading and literacy is not a day's work. Which one is not a few years of hard work, can you learn something?" Cheng. There is a shortage of people and officials in our homeland of the Ming Dynasty, who do you plan to send to educate the outside world?"

"It's better to let these mediocre officials go. No matter how mediocre they are, they are still well-educated people and the people of China. As long as they can educate one or two barbarians outside the territory to agree with my Ming Dynasty, then it will be my Ming Dynasty's profit."

"Wouldn't it be more appropriate to let them suffer and suffer outside the territory and continue to contribute to our Ming Dynasty than to kill them with one blow?"

Lao Zhu frowned and pondered, Zhu Biao saw Lao Zhu hesitated, and said while the iron was hot: "Father, Fifth Brother is right."

"'Everything is for the interests of Ming Dynasty'!"

Zhu Biao's words instantly tilted the balance in Lao Zhu's heart. In the end, his position as the emperor prevailed. Lao Zhu finally nodded and said: "...All right, if this is the case, then let's pinch our noses and forgive me. Those mediocre officials."

He thought for a while, and added: "The corrupt officials involved in the incident will not be spared if they are killed. Those nine clans who were originally punished should all be distributed. After all, they are also Chinese people. Those barbarians are much better."

"Father, the Emperor!" Zhu Biao and Zhu Su looked at each other, and at the same time they cupped their hands at Old Zhu.

Zhu Su said so well that everyone was very happy.Now that the population of Ming Dynasty is extremely scarce, it would be unbearable pain for the Chinese nation if Lao Zhu was allowed to start a big case and punish tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands.It's better to let these people play their last remaining heat for future generations. Even if they go to labor reform as a coolie, it's much better than killing them directly.

Zhu Su left the palace gate and stopped beside the carriage at the gate. Fang Xiaoru was circling anxiously like ants on a hot pot.Seeing Zhu Su coming out with a happy face, he felt relieved, and asked full of expectation: "Master, I don't know my father..."

"Don't worry. The emperor has issued an imperial decree. As long as there is no corruption, everyone can be forgiven and avoid the death penalty, so as to show the difference from the principal culprit."

"However, if you turn a blind eye to the matter of the empty seal, you still have to be punished. Resignation and punishment are inevitable. In the future, they will be sent out of the territory to serve the Ming Dynasty. This is already the most lenient treatment."

Zhu Su looked at Fang Xiaoru apologetically.

Fang Xiaoru listened carefully, tears were already gushing out. "Saving my father's life is already a great grace of the emperor! Disciple... No, Cao Min, Cao Min, thank you for His Majesty's grace!" He bent down and knelt down, firmly kowtowed several times in the direction of the palace.

Seeing it, Zhu Su also felt a lot of emotion.Fang Xiaoru's father, Fang Keqin, the prefect of Jining, was one of the most controversial officials involved in the air printing case.

Fang Keqin was a diligent and frugal person. When he was the prefect of Jining, he would not even accept a glass of water from the people every time he visited the counties.Although he is pedantic, he adheres to Confucian ethics and his virtue is highly respected by the people.

It's just that he has no extraordinary talent after all, and he didn't see the disadvantages of the empty seal, nor did he find out that the officials under his command used the empty seal for personal gain, so he was implicated, arrested and taken into prison.

Like Zheng Shili's elder brother, Zheng Shiyuan, he is an upright official who is virtuous but incompetent, and has not been able to find out that his subordinates wrote articles about empty seals, so he was implicated.

Lao Zhu said that they were "mediocre officials", but he was not wrong.

"If you want to come tomorrow, the imperial decree will be delivered to Jinyiwei Prison." Zhu Su got into the carriage and called Fang Xiaoru to sit down together. "At that time, you can take your father to the teacher's residence, so that you can live in peace and comfort for a few days. Next, you may be sent to Yunnan or Liaodong."

"Although I can no longer serve as an official, if the imperial court wants to expand its borders, it still needs to use literati like him to educate the barbarian people."

"This is also the cornerstone of my Ming Dynasty. In my opinion, it is even more meaningful than being a court official."

Fang Xiaoru naturally knew Zhu Su's proposition, and nodded upon hearing that. "Thank you, master, for your kindness. This disciple will definitely persuade my father to learn new things, so as to spread enlightenment for my Ming Dynasty."

"Actually, my disciples have also seen it over the years. My father and son are not suitable to be officials at all." Fang Xiaoru said this, showing a wry smile. "The character of disciple and father is only suitable for studying knowledge and being a gentleman. If you are an official, you may suffer from the faintness of a nerd at any time, which will bring disaster to the country and the people."

"It's a good thing for my father to be dismissed from office. At least the people under his command will not suffer because of ignorance."

This incident actually gave Fang Xiaoru a sense of self-knowledge, and Zhu Su's eyes were strange.His evaluation of his father and son is indeed accurate, but Fang Keqin is not bad. He Fang Xiaoru has become one of the "three idiots" most trusted by Emperor Jianwen in history. In the end, even the emperor was conspired by the three cobblers and lost his throne.

It is indeed not material for a high official.

It's better to be honest and learn.

"Xi Zhi, I have something I want to entrust to you." Zhu Su remembered something, so he sat up straight and said to Fang Xiaoru, Fang Xiaoru immediately listened respectfully, and only heard Zhu Su say:
"I want you to prepare the newspaper office of our Guozijian, use the newspaper to control the mouthpiece of scholars, and spread new learning ideas."

"In the future, this newspaper will definitely be the first place where new learning and old learning will fight. You are academically solid and good at debate, so you can be the first editor-in-chief of this newspaper. What do you think?"

(End of this chapter)