Save the Bachelor of Heaven

 After the introduction of the three policies of "divide the land into the land", "share the work of the gentry with one person and pay for the grain" and "return the waste to the public", although the ministers all felt heartbroken, few dared to stand up and resist at this moment.

The reason is also very simple. In the past three years, Xiang Nan has killed more than 100,000 corrupt officials, with heads rolling and blood flowing like rivers. This is more than Zhu Yuanzhang killed during his thirty-one year reign.

  It can be said that he is selfless and ruthless.

Facing such a tyrant, how dare they jump out and still want the heads on their necks?

 Besides, they are all smart people and know that these three policies are beneficial to the country and the people.

If they go against the trend and jump out to oppose, even if they are beheaded in the future, there will be no praise for them in the history books.

 In life, one must either seek wealth before death or glory after death.



 So few courtiers dared to speak out against it.

On the other hand, a group of gentry and students from Jiangsu and Zhejiang went to the Confucius Temple to cry, hoping that the emperor would take back his life. They believed that they should not violate the ancestral system and be so mean and ungrateful to the scholars in the world.

When the courtiers saw this, they all seemed to be convinced, and they immediately responded and agreed. Please ask Xiang Nan to withdraw his decree and not to disrespect the scholars of the world.

 …

Xiang Nan heard this and became furious.

 Crying in temples is a phenomenon unique to the Ming Dynasty. Whenever there was something illegal or inappropriate in the government, the scholars would gather in the Confucian temple and write "Juan Tang Wen". After crying to the founder Kong Shengren, they would also call the people to complain to the superior government.

The Ming Dynasty was a cabinet system, and even the emperor was under the control of the cabinet and could not do whatever he wanted. Therefore, things like scholars crying in temples had to be treated with caution.

 Therefore, every time the scholars cried in the temple, the court had to make concessions.

 But those scholars did not represent the interests of the people at the bottom, but the interests of their gentry class. They are not speaking for justice, but for their own interests.

When scholars cry in temples, they are protecting their own interests, while harming the interests of the court and the people.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the reason why the court was short of money and could not collect taxes was closely related to the Weeping Temple. Because the scholars in Jiangsu and Zhejiang often cried in temples, causing local tax officials a headache.

Jiangsu and Zhejiang are the richest places in the country, and they are unwilling to pay taxes, which directly affects the court's taxes. The imperial court had no money and was unable to resist the foreign invaders, so the Manchus entered the customs.

 After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, taxes were also levied on Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The local scholars wanted to cry in the temple, but the rulers of the Qing Dynasty did not listen to that trick at all, and directly tied the people who cried in the temple to the execution ground, and all 18 scholars were killed.

After this incident, there were no more crying temples in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

So Xiang Nan followed suit and directly ordered the Jinyi guards to tie the leader of the people who cried in the temple to the execution ground and cut them with swords. For a while, their heads were rolling, scaring many people.

 …

But even so, the gentry still refused to give up.

 When it came to the autumn scientific examination, candidates from Jiangsu and Zhejiang were absent from the examination collectively.

 Originally, there were hundreds of thousands of students coming out of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to take the exam each time. But today’s students taking exams cannot even sit in the exam room.

When Xiang Nan saw this, he naturally knew that the scholars were protesting against him.

The courtiers also took the opportunity to submit another memorial, hoping that Xiang Nan would withdraw his decree and not chill the hearts of the scholars in the world.

"I have chilled the hearts of the scholars in the world, or the scholars of the world have chilled my heart." Xiang Nan scolded, "They all have rich clothes, delicious food, good fields at home, and fat horses in their stables, and they just pass the exam. With just one move, the person who dedicated himself has crossed the threshold. Do you think I don’t know that?

 Compared with them, what kind of life do ordinary people live? They have no clothes to wear, no food to eat, they have to pay taxes, they have to work as errands, and they have to serve.

They are actually not satisfied, have no gratitude to the court, and no mercy to the people. Even if such a student becomes a Jinshi and becomes an official, he is nothing more than a corrupt official who brings disaster to the country and the people. "

With one word, the ministers did not dare to reply.

"When scholars make trouble, there must be someone who takes the lead." Xiang Nan added, "Pass the order and order the commander of the Jinyi Guards, Ha Ming, to immediately go to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to investigate and find out who is causing trouble in the government. The leader will be wanted and severely punished.

Fu Zhongtang, you rush to Jiangsu and Zhejiang immediately and explain to the people my painstaking efforts in launching the three policies. Don't listen to the instigation of villains, and retake the exam as soon as possible.

And tell the students in Jiangsu and Zhejiang that I am particularly merciful this time. If they still refuse to repent, the imperial court will terminate the scientific research in Jiangsu and Zhejiang from now on. "

When the decree was announced, the courtiers were in an uproar, and were all frightened by Xiang Nan's ruthlessness.

Jiangsu and Zhejiang have produced scholars since ancient times. If the imperial court terminates the scientific examination in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, millions of students in Jiangsu and Zhejiang will be doomed.

Furthermore, considering Xiang Nan’s style of killing hundreds of thousands of corrupt officials in three years, they also believed that Xiang Nan did not just give up on words. It is really possible that he will terminate the scientific examination in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

As a result, the future of scholars in Jiangsu and Zhejiang will be ruined, even if they relocate or immigrate in the future, it will not work. So they absolutely can't take any more chances.

Subsequently, the commander of the Jinyiwei, Ha Ming, arrived in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and easily arrested several students who incited students in Jiangsu and Zhejiang to boycott the exams.

 In addition, those who connive and indirectly support the students who are on strike in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces such as academic administration, envoys, inspection envoys, prefects, and prefects will also be punished.

 The students who took the lead in instigating the boycott of the examination were all executed outside the Gongyuan where the examination was held, as a warning to others. Officials who condoned and supported the strike were all dismissed from their posts and exiled outside the Great Wall, never to be used again.

 Subsequently, Fu Zongming, a bachelor of the cabinet, presided over the make-up examination.

 This time, no student dared to stop taking the exam, and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang scientific examinations were successfully completed.

However, in the following decades, students from Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas have never won the top prize in the exam, not even the top three.

Even if they pass the Jinshi examination and become officials, they will be assigned to remote areas and will not be promoted for a long time. Even among the cabinet, six ministries, and nine ministers, there is no minister who is originally from Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Furthermore, Xiang Nan also issued many edicts, requiring scholars all over the world to study in a disciplined manner, not to go in and out of the yamen, not to resist money and grain arrears, not to arbitrarily impose local songs, not to instigate lawsuits, not to cheat on the fields, and not to take over the grain rations. If there is any violation of the prohibition, we will deal with it as an example to the public.

He also warned the gentry everywhere that they were strictly prohibited from controlling lawsuits and monopolizing money and food. Once discovered, they would be severely punished and reported in detail, and they would be punished with leather shackles as usual.

These two decrees completely erased the dignity and privileges of the scholars and gentry of the Ming Dynasty, allowing them to be obedient citizens from now on, and never think about making trouble or causing trouble again.

After these turmoils, the three policies of "dividing people into acres", "returning envy to the public", and "gentry and gentry working as errands and paying grain as one" were successfully implemented. Although there are still many obstacles, in short, it still cannot stop the mighty trend.