Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

Hu Yan was wearing his clothes and spoke slowly to Zhu Di.

"The Master said: A gentleman has three fears: fear of destiny, fear of great men, and fear of the words of sages."

Is there anyone here who doesn’t know what the next sentence of this sentence is?

Hu Guang almost jumped up and grabbed Hu Yan's sleeve to tell him to stop talking nonsense in front of the emperor.

But Hu Guang didn't dare. He could only look at Hu Yan and continue.

"A villain who doesn't know the destiny and is not afraid of it is an insult to an adult and insults a saint."

When these words came out of Hu Yan's mouth, the atmosphere in the entire cabinet duty room became as solemn as iron.

Next to Zhu Di, Zhu Gaochi used his eyes to persuade Hu Yan to quickly admit his mistake, but Hu Yan seemed not to notice.

Hu Yan's face had the piety of a martyr, and there was no trace of panic at all.

Zhu Gaochi gritted his teeth, stood up and knelt on the ground and said, "Father, Hu Yan is talking nonsense, please don't punish him."

Zhu Di seemed not to have heard anything and just snorted coldly.

Then he stood up, walked towards Hu Yan, and stood in front of him.

"Hu Yan."

Zhu Di's eyes were as gloomy as water, as if he wanted to eat alive the bookish Confucian scholar in front of him.

Hu Yan was not afraid at all, looking directly at the emperor with a magnanimous expression, even with a fearless calmness.

"Wei Chen just repeated the words of the sage, how can it become nonsense?"

After hearing this, Hu Guang, Yang Shiqi, Xie Jin and others all sweated for Hu Yan.

Based on how tough his words are, he wants to be the second Fang Xiaoru!

"Okay. What a saint's words, hahaha! Hahaha!"

Listening to Zhu Di's laughter, everyone held their breath and waited for Zhu Di's reaction next.

Should we just go through the process and let the soldiers pull him down? Or just do it yourself?

This routine process of laughing up to the sky and then turning around and killing people has been performed many times in the past few months when faced with Jianwen's old ministers who refused to surrender or violated Zhu Di's will.

The old ministers of Jianwen are not without strong bones.

Facing Zhu Di, Lian Zining refused to surrender, and denounced Zhu Di for plotting to usurp the throne and being treasonous. Zhu Di was so angry that he ordered people to cut off Lian Zining's tongue to prevent him from making any more noise. Later, Zhu Di said that he wanted to imitate Zhou Gong and help him become the king. , Lian Zining heard the words, endured the severe pain, put his hand into his mouth, dipped his tongue in blood, and wrote "Where is King Cheng?" in big letters on the palace bricks.

These four words directly broke Zhu Di's defense. After laughing up to the sky, he ordered Lian Zining to be killed. Then he cut off the corpse and killed 151 members of the Lian clan and 371 relatives who were guarding the border. people.

Faced with the same problem as Lian Zining, Fang Xiaoru's bones are tough enough.

Still wanting to imitate the Duke of Zhou and help him become king, Fang Xiaoru asked where King Zhou Cheng was. With the foreshadowing of Lian Zining, Zhu Di did not break his guard this time and held back. He replied that he would burn himself to death. Then Fang Xiaoru asked why he didn't become king. Son, Zhu Di said that the country depends on the eldest king; Fang Xiaoru asked why he didn't make his younger brother the king, and Zhu Di simply said that this is our Zhu family's business.

At this time, Zhu Di's anger level was full, and he was patient enough to explode, and asked Fang Xiaoru to draft the edict. Fang Xiaoru refused to draft it, and the two quarreled. In the end, Fang Xiaoru said, "So what if I kill all ten of my clans?"

I vaguely remember that Zhu Di looked up to the sky and laughed like this at that time.

Facing the emperor's self-explanatory laughter, Hu Yan still had no fear on his face, and he just looked at Zhu Di quietly.

But to the surprise of everyone in the cabinet, Zhu Di did not take action immediately.

Zhu Di took a deep look at Hu Yan and asked: "Then according to what you said, what is destiny, what is a great man, and what is the word of a saint?"

After hearing Zhu Di's question, Hu Yan replied: "In my opinion, the so-called destiny is the will of God. Meteor falls, the earth trembles, and the red ground is thousands of miles away. They are all warnings given by God to the king, and their meaning is to alert the king. Reflect on your own virtues and don’t become an unprincipled and foolish king who is rejected by God.”

"The so-called lord is a person of high status and high moral standing."

"The so-called words of saints are naturally the words of Confucius, Yanzi, Zengzi, Zisizi and Mencius."

After hearing Hu Yan's answer, Zhu Di smiled contemptuously: "Then according to your opinion, am I considered an 'adult'?"

At this moment, Hu Yan had already risked his life for the sake of the orthodoxy in his heart.

Hu Yan nodded and responded: "Yes, your Majesty is the ninth emperor, the emperor. Of course, your lord is not only a lord, but also the greatest lord."

"Then according to your theory, can I be 'afraid'?"

Zhu Di asked, staring at Hu Yan.

"Of course it's awesome."

Hu Yan answered without hesitation and raised his head to meet Zhu Di's gaze.

"Hahahahaha"

Zhu Di laughed, his laughter full of sarcasm and murderous intent.

"Then do you fear me, the great man, more, or do you fear the words of the saint, or the destiny of heaven?"

Zhu Di asked again, his tone already cold.

There were beads of sweat on Hu Yan's forehead, but he always remained calm.

Hu Yan knew that he had angered the emperor, and if he spoke carelessly, he might lose not only his own life, but also the lives of his whole family. Although he was not afraid of fighting for the orthodoxy, this was not the case. It means that he is someone who will easily throw away his own life and the lives of those around him.

Hu Yan is not the same as Lian Zining and Fang Xiaoru.

Lian Zining and Fang Xiaoru were loyal to Emperor Jianwen, while Hu Yan was loyal to the teachings of the saints.

Therefore, Hu Yan could accept a change of emperor, as long as this emperor continued to use the sage's learning to rule the world, but he would never accept the sage's learning being shaken or tampered with.

"Destiny, the Lord, and the words of the saints are all terrible majesties and cannot be confused. There is no one to fear more."

Hu Yan replied decisively: "The majesty of the destiny comes from 'the destiny is the law that everything must follow.' Therefore, the majesty of the destiny is not the same as the majesty of the words of adults and saints on life."

"The words of adults and saints belong to this world. The dignity of adults lies in power, and the dignity of words of saints lies in morality."

"All three need to be feared, but as the saying goes, the sky is above. The villain does not know the majesty of the destiny, so he is not afraid. The villain is not even afraid of the destiny, so he despises the virtuous adults and despises the saints. His remarks are not surprising at all.”

"But your Majesty is an adult, not a villain."

Hu Yan said sincerely: "Your Majesty obeys the orders of heaven and pacifies the national crisis; he is kind to the people and magnanimous; he is also able to clearly understand the situation and deal with it fairly."

Zhu Di did not accept this trick at all. Seeing the verbal trap of "Which of the three scares him more?" Hu Yan did not step into it, so Zhu Di simply asked.

"Since you say that the changes of nature are enough to fear, the ancestors' methods are enough, and the words of people are enough to be compassionate, do you mean that the method of changing the world will not work?"

After saying that, Zhu Di stared at Hu Yan.

This time, Zhu Di was really murderous!

Either changing the method will work, or changing the method will not work. There is no middle or muddy option.

In fact, the reforms in the past dynasties are nothing more than two most important influencing factors.

The first is whether the power of the ruler himself is sufficient to implement reforms.

Second, whether the ruler himself can benefit from the reform and therefore has the willingness and determination to implement the reform.

Zhu Di undoubtedly meets these two conditions.

Zhu Di was the only emperor in the unified dynasty who successfully rebelled as a vassal king. Needless to say, his own ability and character were decisive and fearless.

And the reason why Zhu Di showed so much determination today was because he wanted to make more changes.

After all, it is inseparable from Jiang Xinghuo's lectures.

After listening to each class, Zhu Di already fully understood what it means to be truly "unafraid of changes in nature, insufficient of ancestors' laws, and insufficient sympathy for human words."

It's an exaggeration and disrespect for his predecessors. If he really said "Three Insufficiencies to Fear", Wang Anshi would just have fun. To prove both theory and practice, he had to rely on Jiang Xinghuo.

You say that the changes in the sky are scary, then you might as well take a look at the torsion scale experiment and understand what heliocentric theory is, which will instantly shatter your cosmology of "response between heaven and man".

You talk about the ancestral method, then you might as well take a look at the mess with holes left behind by the system established by Emperor Taizu Gao, such as the vassal system, the treasure bank system, and the petty official system. Which one is not the "ancestral method" given by Jiang Xinghuo? A hole to be patched? Who hasn’t really seen better results?

You say that people's words are generous and they work as slaves to win over the hearts of Jiangnan people. Now the people of Jiangnan no longer miss Emperor Jianwen at all. Even children's songs have spontaneously changed to praise the new emperor's good governance. How to explain it?

If you have to be more serious and say that ordinary people are not human beings, only the gentry are human beings, then stick your neck out and I will tell you a secret.

Therefore, since Jiang Xinghuo provided Zhu Di with sufficient theoretical basis to make changes, and it could indeed enhance the national power of the Ming Dynasty, strengthen the power of the imperial power, and weaken the gentry class, what reason did Zhu Di have not to do it?

After all, if Jiang Xinghuo doesn't use this set of things to make changes, but continues to follow the rules.

If Zhu Di wanted to achieve the unparalleled achievements of "ruling the Tang and Song Dynasties, and reaching the Han and Tang Dynasties" through the ages, he would probably have to spend more than a little more effort.

Reform to become stronger. Without reform, how can we become stronger?

It's a long story, but in fact it was just a moment of wonder for Zhu Di.

"Reply to Your Majesty."

Hu Yan on the opposite side had already collected his thoughts and replied.

"Wei Chen is not against the examination law that purges adults, nor is he against the tax system reform. These are things that benefit the country and the people. Wei Chen is not a corrupt scholar."

"As for the Ming Dynasty's national debt and the vassal system, they are insignificant compared to more important things."

Hu Yan turned to say seriously: "What I object to is the so-called expansion of the scale of the Qintian Prison and the monitoring of astronomical phenomena; the restoration of Xunzi's status as the Five Sages of Confucianism; the adjustment of the content of the imperial examination; the promotion of the theory of sage kings and the establishment of the concept of nation-state."

"——Because this will shake the destiny!"

"To shake the destiny is to shake the Confucian orthodoxy; to shake the Confucian orthodoxy is to undermine the foundation of His Majesty!"

Hu Yan looked directly at Zhu Di and said impassionedly.

"Your Majesty, you might as well think about it, if all the people in the world become villains who no longer fear destiny, who will fear the patriarchal clan and authority? Who will fear saints and morality?"