Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 17 Who is more beautiful, me or Mr. Xu?
As soon as Zhu Houzhao and Qiu Ju walked out of the Royal Industrial Laboratory, Liu Jin came to Zhu Houzhao.

"Your Majesty, Xu Jin, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, has applied to join the Loyal Emperor Society. Here is his application form," Liu Jin handed the application form to Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao smiled slightly, thinking that Xu Jin was straightforward, but he didn't want Xu Jin to join the club so easily, so he just took out a book from his bookcase:
"Since he has applied to join, Gu Dayong will send someone to investigate him and even have a face-to-face interview with him. You should ask him to wait for news. The Loyal Emperor Society is a society with a sense of mission and faith. The recruitment of members must be strict in admission and lenient in exit. Only those who are willing to work for the benefit of the Ming Dynasty and the people can join. Even if he is the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, he cannot be too careless."

Liu Jin nodded in agreement. He knew that Emperor Zhu Houzhao wanted to do great things, and asking them to develop the Loyalty to the Emperor Society was also to discover wise and capable officials and generals who were truly worth cultivating.

On this day, Liu Jin found Xu Jin, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of War, with Zhu Houzhao's instructions:

"After the assessment, the organization found that you had withheld 3,000 shi of military rations when you were the governor of Taiyuan. This made the organization very disappointed."

Xu Jin didn't know what to say for a moment. He wanted to defend himself but couldn't, because it has become a normal unspoken rule for officials in charge of the army to withhold military pay and rations. Otherwise, they would have no money to support their staff and improve their quality of life, not to mention that they would have to bribe high-ranking officials in the capital. Therefore, generally speaking, if it is not excessive, they will not be held accountable. Even if they are found to have committed corruption, they will not be punished for corruption. This is already the tacit rule in the officialdom.

Xu Jin smiled awkwardly, his face showing disappointment. He had not expected that the assessment of the Loyalty Society would be so strict. He would even be used as a stain because of his withholding of military rations many years ago. "So, Xu can't join the Loyalty Society?"

Xu Jin really wanted to ask again if failing to join the Zhongjun Society meant he would have no chance of becoming the Minister of War, but he didn't ask.

At this time, Liu Jin laughed: "However, the organization found that although you are corrupt, you are not afraid of life and death in battle. In Liaodong and Taiyuan, you dared to lead the troops and killed the Tartars several times. During your tenure, no Tartar dared to attack. It can be seen that you have made contributions to protecting the border people. Therefore, the organization decided to develop you as a reserve member for the time being and test you for a long period of time.

You must remember that only those who are ambitious and want to work for the benefit of the people of the Ming Dynasty can join the Loyalty Society. Naturally, the assessment is stricter. Here are the "Loyalty Society Outline" and the "Governance Outline" bestowed by the emperor. Take them back and study them carefully. After one year, remember to write a summary of your study and a personal summary of your governance. At that time, the organization will assess you again. If you pass the assessment, you can be called a member of the Loyalty Society."

After listening to Liu Jin, Xu Jin, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, realized how troublesome it was to join the Loyal Emperor Society. But because of this, he began to think that the Loyal Emperor Society might not really be a group that just huddles together for warmth, but might really be an organization with ideals and a sense of mission. Because it was so troublesome, it aroused Xu Jin's desire to join. He now felt more and more that if he joined the Loyal Emperor Society, it would mean that he was a truly wise and good official.

"I, Xu Jin, am also a man of great ambitions! Please rest assured, Eunuch Liu, I will go back and read these two books, and I will not let the organization down," Xu Jin said as he stood up and left. The word "organization" came out of his mouth unconsciously, but after he said it, he couldn't help but be a little surprised at his actions just now, wondering who on earth invented this word, it's really amazing!

This was naturally invented by Zhu Houzhao. Zhu Houzhao knew that it was difficult to make a person loyal to another person, because human nature is to pursue freedom and is unwilling to be controlled by another person. However, humans are social creatures and naturally hope to be recognized and affirmed by others.

Therefore, it was very difficult for Zhu Houzhao to get these officials to be loyal to him as the emperor. Even though they had accepted the Confucian idea of ​​loyalty to the emperor for so long and regarded the emperor as their father on the surface, they often regarded the emperor as a bandit and would not be completely loyal to the emperor. This is because one person is not willing to be loyal to one person.

But if it is a group, it is different, because people are afraid of loneliness by nature, so people dare not betray a group, and may even actively obey a group. This is called herd mentality. This is why officials would rather offend the emperor than offend the civil service group.

Zhu Houzhao now wanted to develop a group organization that represented his will. He wanted the people in this group to understand that betraying him was not just betraying the emperor, but betraying the entire group. Failure to gain recognition from this group meant that they did not gain recognition from many people. Moreover, the people in this group represented the best elites. If you could not gain recognition, it meant that you were a loser. Xu Jin now had the desire to be recognized by the "organization", and this desire even exceeded his desire to become the Minister of War, causing him to forget that his original goal was to be promoted to the Minister of War.

Xu Jin went back and began to carefully read the "Outline of the Loyal Emperor Society" and the "Outline of Governing the Country" bestowed by the emperor. In order to understand the organization's intentions and gain its recognition, he studied day and night, and even as a literati, he instinctively made annotations to express his understanding and insights.

As a Jinshi who passed the imperial examination by taking the eight-legged essay, he was best at reading comprehension and application writing, and he used the exam questions to brainwash himself. Therefore, in order to gain the recognition of the organization, he also began to brainwash himself with the "Outline of the Loyal Emperor Society" written by Zhu Houzhao himself and the "Outline of Governing the Country" bestowed by the emperor. In the end, he felt more and more fulfilled and felt that he should join the Loyal Emperor Society.

At this time, Liu Jin also reported to Zhu Houzhao the latest situation on the development of Xu Jin, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of War: "Your Majesty, Xu Jin agreed to the organization to assess him and first learn your spirit as a candidate member."

"Very good, in that case, he can be chosen for the position of Minister of War. Let the Imperial Household Department Director Wang Yue come to see me!" Zhu Houzhao said.

Liu Jin was puzzled: "Your Majesty, why did you let him be the Minister of War when he hasn't even become a member yet? Shouldn't he be allowed to become a member first? The Minister of War is one of the Nine Ministers!"

"I just want him to know that becoming a member of the Loyal Emperor Society is harder than becoming a minister of war. No matter how high an official is, one can become one, but to become a member of the Loyal Emperor Society, one must be an idealist with ideas and beliefs, a colleague with common goals. Otherwise, even a duke, a minister or a minister cannot join. I want people to understand that joining a society is not for promotion or wealth, but to prove that they are excellent people!"

After Zhu Houzhao said this, Liu Jin understood a little and nodded to leave.

Zhu Houzhao smiled. Through the incident with Xu Jin, he discovered that the thoughts of people of that era were really lacking. Even a high-ranking official like the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War could be manipulated by him in his thoughts. This was enough to show how easy it was for people who lacked the ability to think under the education of Neo-Confucianism to be brainwashed. It was no wonder that later Western missionaries were able to successfully trick the cabinet ministers into joining the religion, and even the White Lotus Sect could continue to exist.

Zhu Houzhao believed that in the future he could develop more people who had the same strong national consciousness and reform consciousness as him.

Not long after, Wang Yue arrived, and Zhu Houzhao chose Xu Jin as the Minister of War on the grounds that he was more handsome.

After Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, told Liu Jian and others the reason, Liu Jian and others all laughed, thinking that the emperor had no opinions of his own and would undoubtedly become a tyrant in the future.

Wang Hua later found out about this and couldn't help but look in the mirror. He sighed to himself that his appearance was not bad at all, so he couldn't help but ask his son Wang Yangming, "Who is more handsome, me or Xu Jin?"

"Mr. Xu is very handsome, but I lack masculinity. I have fair skin and a plump body. I am far inferior to Mr. Xu." Wang Yangming, who was the head of the Military Selection Department of the Ministry of War at the time, met Xu Jin, the left vice minister of the Ministry of War, and told the truth, and was then beaten up by his father.

(End of this chapter)