Chapter 368 Abolition of Examination Qualifications
In order to prevent some people from seizing the opportunity to mislead and spread rumors, after arresting Xue Yongheng's family, he immediately sent people to hire a large number of literati.
It is up to them to write public notices for themselves, and to write clearly and grandly the whole process and moral principles.
He also specially selected some of the emperor's edicts to be written on the notice, such as what should be done to those who disobey the edicts, and whether Li Zhicai can deal with them.
This operation can be said to have blocked the mouths of many people. At least he will not be accused by some people of deliberately rebelling, mutiny and rebelling against the party, and his reputation is righteous.
Moreover, this notice was posted in the most conspicuous place, and there were dedicated people reading it out all over the streets without time limit. Regardless of whether you are literate or not, you can clearly understand what happened today.
And these scholars and scholars who are good at finding faults in eggs and trying to get the best out of them naturally know this.
This is why they were able to suppress their inner anger and resentment and remain silent before and during the execution.
Seeing Li Zhicai mentioning the contents of the notice, these young scholars were smart enough not to pick up the topic, because they knew that this was beyond debate.
They can only find faults and look for loopholes in Li Zhicai's behavior and his behavior that violates fairness.
The reason why they dared to stand up and criticize Li Zhicai in public was because they found a loophole and had hope of victory and comeback.
This loophole was the unprecedented practice in the Ming Dynasty of using the military to enforce the law and directly impose capital punishment without interrogation or verification of charges.
Especially the behavior of this pair of women, children, old and young. It is no exaggeration to say that in their cognition, this has aroused the anger of both humans and gods.
So they immediately questioned Li Zhicai on this topic that could lead to victory:
"Even if Mr. Xue's family owes the court taxes and money, you can just recover it after checking, but why do you want to massacre Mr. Xue's family?"
"To be so cruel and kill a child who is less than ten years old is simply what an animal did. You will be punished by God!"
A young scholar, who was holding a book in his hand and dressed inappropriately, pointed at Li Zhicai with a red face and cursed.
From this appearance, it is obvious that this person hurried from his home to the execution ground to watch the execution after hearing the notice.
Li Zhicai had seen many such people before. They all read a few books and thought they were great sages whose talents were comparable to those in the sky.
"I see, General, that you have really blinded your eyes by reading. The General's notice clearly states that Xue Yongheng's family has just continued to disobey orders."
"He was so bold that he dared to instigate the guards to drive away and beat the troops who were fighting against the imperial court with sticks and swords."
"I have warned you several times, but these traitorous thieves didn't know how to retreat and stop. Instead, they intensified and became more aggressive, attacking my general's subordinates!"
"This kind of behavior is not an attempt to treason, so what is it? If this general does not strictly follow the laws of the Ming Dynasty, how can he convince the world and how can he be worthy of your majesty's trust?"
"And you people, drinking and having fun all day long, holding these so-called sages' books in your hands, are deaf to what is happening outside the window!"
"When something happens, if you hear a little bit of news from other people's mouths, you yell, gather a crowd to make trouble, are you qualified to come out to criticize the imperial court's policies and His Majesty's decision-making?"
"You are saying that this general is arrogant? I'm afraid you are the ones who are lawless. You open your mouth and shut your mouth just to see how your majesty is doing and how the court is doing!"
"You have read so many books, don't you know that the legal system established by Emperor Taizu stipulates that officials and scholars are not allowed to discuss politics?"
This frightened these young scholars. They didn't expect that this common man who could only shout and kill, and who was considered an uneducated man in their eyes, actually knew the institutional laws established by Taizu.
Li Sancai saw their shocked expressions, raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and sneered.
Of course he didn't know, but Emperor Zhu behind him knew that Zhu Youxiao always had to plan things well.
Since he had already guessed that the official and gentry families would resist and cause trouble, he could not ignore these young scholars who were most susceptible to instigation.
In fact, many of the military generals of the Ming Dynasty did not even understand the contents of the legal system, which was why they repeatedly failed to defeat civil servants.
It was better during the war. The emperor and the court needed to rely on military generals to lead and train troops, rely on them to win battles and maintain their dominance.
Military generals can also maintain their own status, seek greater benefits and create greater value through sufficient military power.
But once it comes to peacetime, when there is no war inside and outside, the civil servants will not tolerate these ordinary people being equal to them, or even superior to them.
It is for this reason that military generals seek self-protection and protect themselves from the invaders, and even develop a warlord mentality, secretly challenging the imperial court, and acting in secret.
Therefore, nothing can be seen simply from the surface. Any system changes and plans, as well as the struggle and integration of various forces, are ultimately driven by interests.
Just like the officials of the three parties, in order to maintain the interests of their coastal interest groups and not be annexed and suppressed by the Jiangnan official and gentry families, they can join forces with Wei Zhongxian without hesitation to crazily suppress and exclude the Donglin Party members.
Zhu Youxiao's drastic reforms and deliberate control of the army to confiscate homes were also enhancing the deterrent power of the imperial power, allowing him to easily face any changes in the situation in the future.
Zhu Youxiao was worried even though he was thousands of miles away, so that the matter of collecting tax money and food could proceed smoothly.
He arranged and stipulated everything in detail, and they only needed to follow it.
And just as these scholars believe, the military generals were simply manipulated and applauded by the scholars in terms of intrigues.
This situation and status was not broken until a man named Li Chengliang appeared, and the generals finally found a way to protect themselves without being persecuted by civilian officials.
If Zhu Youxiao's edict to Li Zhicai did not mention that officials and scholars were not allowed to discuss politics, Li Zhicai really didn't know how to respond to these people's questions.
"If you still dare to come out and criticize without authorization, I will, in accordance with His Majesty's decree, revoke all your qualifications to take the examination and you will not be allowed to participate in the imperial examination for life!"
Li Zhicai said loudly and proudly that the feeling of suppressing these arrogant scholars to speak and do things was so comfortable that he felt like he was a little addicted.