In the imperial study room, Zhang Yan had already been immersed in Zhu Cixiang's description of the future society.
After Zhu Cihong finished speaking, he took a deep breath and looked at him blankly. There was a hint of admiration in his eyes, and his heart was rolling like a turbulent sea.
She did not expect that Xun'er's ambition was so lofty, that all people in the world should be literate, have equal status, and there would be no distinction between high and low.
After being in charge of the family in Nanjing for several years, Zhang Yan is no longer the female figure in the harem she used to be. Instead, she has some opinions and understandings of her own in terms of governing the country and politics.
Because of this, she knew how ambitious, noble, and difficult Zhu Cihong's ambitions were, and she also fully understood Zhu Cihong's philosophy of governing the country.
Comparing the so-called ambitions and prosperous times of powerful men, the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the prosperous Song Dynasty, and the ambitious emperors of ancient and modern times, with the thoughts and pursuits in Xinger's heart, they are like a firefly and a bright moon.
"Hong'er, I didn't expect you to have such a big heart and ambition. If you can achieve what you described in the end, I am afraid that our Ming Dynasty will really prosper for hundreds of generations, instead of being like a flash in the pan like the prosperous times in history.
Today, my aunt finally understands what it means to create peace for all eternity. Listening to your words is better than ten years of reading. The ancients are sincere and will not deceive me."
After being silent for a long time, Zhang Yan sighed.
She originally thought that as long as the Ming Dynasty had strong soldiers and horses, wise monarchs and ministers, a prosperous country and people, and prosperous industries, it would be able to create a prosperous age that would surpass all the prosperous ages in ancient and modern times.
But now after listening to Xun'er's words, I realized how narrow my vision and understanding were.
And those so-called prosperous times in history look so ridiculous now.
No wonder those prosperous times could only last for ten or twenty years at most. They turned out to be only superficially powerful and prosperous.
What Xinger wants to create is a truly powerful and prosperous era, and fundamentally make everyone powerful and wealthy. Only such a powerful and wealthy society can last forever.
Zhu Cixiang was quite surprised when Zhang Yan said such words. He originally just wanted to share some of his thoughts about the future with Zhang Yan so that she could better understand and implement his policies in the next two years.
In order to avoid having to ask her for instructions on everything, and to explain everything to her, who would have thought that she really understood her thoughts and ideas on governing the country.
After all, his true thoughts and concepts on governing the country may not even be understood by Ma Shiying and the Red Lady, let alone other civil and military officials and scholars.
And this is also the reason why these literati and gentry in Jiangnan have always been nervous and uneasy, because in the past, everyone knew that the Ming Dynasty's philosophy of governing the country was just two words, benevolence and filial piety, and all governance policies could not violate these two words.
This is also recognized by the entire society and the emperor, that is, benevolence and filial piety are above all else, at least on the surface. Even the emperor dare not do anything openly unkind and unfilial, let alone ministers and ordinary people.
And the fact is indeed the case. Compared with the bloody and ruthless royal families of other dynasties, the royal family of the Ming Dynasty is the most humane. In order to compete for the throne, father and son turned against each other, and brothers killed each other never happened, even in the Ming Dynasty, which happened frequently
If an uncle or nephew seizes the throne, the most he can do is to be placed under house arrest.
For example, Prince Fu and his mother, Concubine Zheng, even though Tianqi and Chongzhen hated them deeply, they could only endure it because they were elders.
If it were any other dynasty, even if the emperor did not directly kill him for revenge, he would probably find an excuse to put him under house arrest. But the fact is that King Fu was living happily in Henan and was killed by the rebels. Chongzhen had to cry hypocritically
One game.
But now?
Although the rumors that Zhu Cixiang killed his father to seize the throne have been proven to be nonsense, there is no airtight wall in the world. It is now well known to everyone that Zhu Cixiang attacked the palace with troops that night.
Therefore, from the moment Zhu Cixi ascended the throne, the so-called benevolent and filial rule of the Ming Dynasty ceased to exist. If anyone mentions it again, it will be a big joke.
Since the emperor ascended the throne, he has indeed never said that he will govern the country with benevolence and filial piety. In addition, he emphasizes the use of military officers and is keen on military affairs and commerce. It is really difficult to guess what kind of ideas the emperor intends to use to govern the country.
Is it to use force to govern the country and focus on agriculture and business?
Or should we govern the country with culture and benevolence and filial piety first?
Even the most basic ideas of governing the country cannot be determined. No matter how rich and powerful the army is, how can everyone feel at ease?
Zhang Yan is naturally aware of this. She was also unsure before, and she tried several times to persuade Xun'er to resume governing the country with benevolence and filial piety to calm people's hearts, but in the end she still had concerns and did not dare to bring it up.
Now that he knew Xun'er's true thoughts, he immediately said: "Xun'er, why don't you issue an edict to govern the country by people? That way you can calm people's hearts as soon as possible."
Although she understood Zhu Cixiang's thoughts on governing the country, she didn't know how to summarize it. Thinking of Zhu Cixiang's words in the morning about putting people first and governing the country with humanity, a flash of inspiration flashed in her mind, and she summarized Zhu Cixiang's thoughts and ideas on governing the country into a single character.
"Well, we really want everyone in the world to understand the thoughts and concepts of governing the country in the future. However, the character "人" is not enough. We have to add "法和道" after the character "人人". From now on, my Ming Dynasty will put people first and rule the country by law."
Zhu Cixiang nodded. Compared to Zhang Yan, he was more aware of the importance of the idea of governing the country. If his ideas were not unified, he would not be able to clarify a program for governing the country, and everything he did would be half the result with twice the effort.
Once you unify your thoughts and clarify the program of governing the country, you can get twice the result with half the effort no matter what you do.
"Then, Xun'er, you can draft the ink now, and I will polish the ink for you..."
Zhang Yan stood up excitedly, obviously deeply attracted by Zhu Cixiang's idea of ruling the country by people, and became the staunchest supporter.
Because the word "人" itself includes benevolence and filial piety, but it is more suitable for governing the country than simple benevolence and filial piety.
Seeing her eagerness, Zhu Cixi also smiled bitterly, but still asked doubtfully: "Auntie, do you really understand, what is people-oriented? What is humanistic governance?"
"Didn't you just say that?" Zhang Yan said strangely.
"Okay, let me give you an example. Is it right or wrong for widows to observe the festival?"
"Of course this is right!" Zhang Yan blushed slightly, but nodded without hesitation.
"Then is it right or wrong for a widow to remarry?"
"this…"
Zhang Yan originally wanted to answer that it must be wrong, but when she thought about it, if a 17- or 18-year-old girl's husband died just after getting married, and she became a widow from then on, she would not be able to remarry even if she met the man she liked.
Contradictory, he hesitated again.
"I don't know if I'm right or wrong. Does Xun'er think that a widow should keep her husband's integrity, or should she remarry to be more humane?"
Zhang Yan thought for a long time and finally looked at Zhu Cixi with a confused expression.