Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

"The Imperial Master is back."

In the main hall, Zhu Di looked at the three dusty people, showing a trace of joy from the bottom of his heart.

It was still too troublesome for Jiang Xinghuo and Yao Guangxiao, who had returned to secular life, to preside over the reform. It was still too troublesome for him to face the opposition of the officials like a fly's wings.

Although hindered by Jing Qing's blood oath, the huge public opinion storm must be dealt with first.

Therefore, the ceremony to pay homage to the Imperial Master and the establishment of the Presidential Reform Affairs Office had to be postponed for a while.

But in Zhu Di's case, Jiang Xinghuo was already a national master, from the day he broke through the wall in prison.

"I have met Your Majesty." Jiang Xinghuo bowed and saluted.

With Zhu Di's special treatment, Jiang Xinghuo did not need to kneel down when meeting anyone, not even the emperor himself or the queen, but only had to bow.

"Yes." Zhu Di smiled and nodded, and then said: "Come here, give the Imperial Preceptor and Duke Rong a seat."

After Jiang Xinghuo and Yao Guangxiao sat down on Xiaojindun, Zhu Di told some things that happened in Nanjing after Zhu Gaoxu left the capital.

Mainly influenced by Jing Qing's blood oath, officials and scholar-bureaucrats who opposed the reform wrote letters one after another, and the cabinet was piled with memorials.

Zhu Di's attitude was always "I have read it and will not return it."

Wait for Jiang Xinghuo and Yao Guangxiao to come back before discussing the matter.

After that, Zhu Di asked: "Regarding the opposition to the reform between the government and the public, does the national teacher have any good advice to teach me?"

"This kind of thing is not unexpected. In fact, it is inevitable and there are countermeasures."

Jiang Xinghuo thought for a moment before slowly speaking out what was on his mind.

"In the war of public opinion, if you want to defeat the enemy, there are only three aspects."

"oh?"

Zhu Di didn't expect that Jiang Xinghuo's countermeasures would sound very similar to that.

This made him feel more confident about Jiang Xinghuo's abilities.

"First, the enemy is tired."

Jiang Xinghuo put his hands on his knees, tapping them rhythmically, and spoke slowly.

"The so-called tired enemy means not entangled in the enemy's public opinion battlefield, but exerting force on other public opinion battlefields that cannot determine the victory or defeat of public opinion, but can make the enemy exhausted, attracting the enemy's attention and making him tired."

"To be specific, it is usually to attack what is necessary to save the enemy, that is, to identify the content that the enemy must refute, but cannot refute clearly."

Yao Guangxiao raised his eyebrows. This was the first time he heard this statement.

What a different approach.

As expected of Jiang Sheng!

"However." Jiang Xinghuo changed the topic, "Wearing the enemy is a method used when the enemy is evenly matched. Now that His Majesty is so high up, there is actually an advanced version of the method of wearying the enemy."

After hearing this, Zhu Di's brain, which had been so annoyed by civil servants these days, finally became clear.

Although he knew that the two parties were not on the same status level, Zhu Di's previous thought was to use the supreme imperial power to sew their mouths shut. But this was obviously impossible, and even the imperial power could not do it.

But now it sounds like Jiang Xinghuo has another idea.

"Please ask the Imperial Master to come quickly!" Zhu Di said urgently.

Jiang Xinghuo said: "Let the vast majority of the opposition scholar-officials and some civil servants who have written objections do one thing to weaken the enemy."

"What's up?"

"Repair books."

Zhu Di frowned and said: "I have appointed Xie Jin as the president to preside over the reconstruction of the "Records of Emperor Taizu Gao".

What I want to say here is that the "President Officer/Vice President Officer" of certain affairs are special positions in the Ming Dynasty that handle specific affairs, which are similar to the "Project Team Leader/Deputy Team Leader" in Jiang Xinghuo's previous life. , there is no level, and the position will be canceled after completing the work.

"President" is not a borrowed word. It first appeared in "History of Song Dynasty: The True Story of Lu Meng", which means to summarize and judge matters. The "President Reform Affairs Yamen" is about to be established, although "President Jiang (official)" sounds a bit confusing. , but it was indeed a routine position for handling special affairs in the Ming Dynasty.

If we use the official practice since the Song Dynasty as an analogy, it would be equivalent to saying that Jiang Xinghuo's National Advisor was an official position, and the Reform President was a dispatch. It is the same as Xie Jin's Attendant Bachelor was an official position, and the Cabinet and Shilu President were dispatches.

Back to the topic, Jiang Xinghuo pointed out: "It's not the "Records of Emperor Taizu Gao"."

"What does the Imperial Master mean?" Zhu Di suddenly remembered something.

"The masterpiece that Your Majesty has always wanted to write."

Zhu Di rebelled and seized the throne as a vassal king. He was brilliant in martial arts but lacked in civilized governance. Naturally, he had the intention to imitate previous emperors and write a masterpiece to demonstrate his civilized governance.

I have had this idea for a long time.

However, if you want to complete a masterpiece on the scale of "a collection of hundreds of books on classics and history since the Fanshuqi, as well as astronomy, geography, yin and yang, medical divination, monks and craftsmanship, compiled into one book", it will cost a lot of money. The manpower and material resources are really incalculable.

Therefore, Zhu Di plans to wait until the national treasury is sufficient before considering it. For now, he can only prepare some basic preparations in advance.

However, Zhu Di's eyes gradually lit up as he listened to Jiang Xinghuo's words.

The Imperial Master is indeed worthy of being a Imperial Master. It only takes a few words, but it goes straight to the core.

If most of the opposition scholar-bureaucrats and some civil servants who opposed the reform could be thrown away to write masterpieces, then my ears would be instantly quieter countless times!

Because, for such a masterpiece, for the scholar-officials in the field, participating in it and leaving their names in the editing team are things that can go down in history!

This kind of temptation is undoubtedly greater than heaven for literati, especially unofficial scholar-bureaucrats without official positions!

Opposing the reform is just to give lip service.

If you want to truly win a reputation during and after your lifetime, you have to write a masterpiece.

After all, the three immortals "establishing virtue, establishing merit, and establishing reputation" are basically covered by Xiu's masterpiece.

Moreover, there is an extended meaning here that the scholar-bureaucrats can naturally associate with each other, that is, when Wang Anshi carried out the reform, Sima Guang, who opposed the reform, left the court for more than ten years and devoted himself to compiling history in Luoyang, presiding over the compilation of the Sixteenth Anniversary Period. Zizhi Tongjian, a chronicle of the general history of the dynasty over 1,300 years ago.

However, Emperor Yongle is not Song Shenzong, Jiang Xinghuo is not Wang Anshi, and these scholar-bureaucrats are not Sima Guang. After more than ten years of compilation of the masterpiece, when it is completed, the Ming Dynasty will probably start running trains. Then if they raise any objections to the reform, then But it was too late.

And in this way, not only did the opponents get a job they were willing to do, but they were also made to be tortured and exhausted voluntarily, which was a clever plan.

Zhu Di was very excited. He felt that he had found the right person this time. The national teacher was simply born to engage in public opinion wars.

Zhu Di couldn't help but ask: "I plan to name it "Yongle Dadian". What does the Imperial Master think of this name?"

"Of course it's a nice name, but"

Zhu Di heard this and asked, "In the opinion of the Imperial Master, what name would be better?"

The name "Yongle Dadian" was very popular with Zhu Di.

"Since we want to create an immortal masterpiece, we naturally have to choose a resounding name that can shock the world." Jiang Xinghuo said thoughtfully.

"oh?"

Zhu Di was a little moved when he heard this: "Then which name does the Imperial Master think is more appropriate?"

"Of course Your Majesty can also call it "Yongle Dadian", but you might as well give it another name."

"——The other name can be called "Encyclopedia of Ming Dynasty"." Jiang Xinghuo said calmly.

"Not only the various schools of thought, astronomy, geography, yin and yang, medical divination, monks and Taoism, and craftsmanship, but also the mathematics, physics, chemistry, and life sciences of the natural sciences, plus sub-categories, and so on. Encyclopedia.”

"Furthermore, such knowledge should not be kept to ourselves, and once it is completed, be shelved in a high cabinet, only for the emperor's reference. Instead, it should be compiled part by part, printed once it is completed, and used as a reference book for scholars all over the world. Only in this way can we live up to His Majesty. It takes time and effort to truly promote His Majesty's rule of law and then be effective among all people."

That is to say, the definition of an encyclopedia is a reference book that records all categories of knowledge accumulated by mankind in the past. Its function is to provide people with the necessary knowledge and factual information to check. Its completeness lies in the fact that it contains elements of various reference books.

The largest encyclopedia in the world is also the "Yongle Dadian" written by Jiang Xinghuo in his previous life. It has more than 11,000 volumes and brings together 7,000 to 8,000 ancient and modern books. It is an encyclopedia-style collection of Chinese documents.

Unfortunately, because the Ming Dynasty emperors did not open this knowledge to outsiders, there is even a theory that the original "Yongle Dadian" was buried with Jiajing after his death, leaving only part of the manuscript. And these manuscripts were edited by the Jurchens into the "Sikuquanshu" 》, some of them were excerpted, and most of them were destroyed. The remaining small part was only left in more than a hundred volumes due to factors such as looting by foreign powers, theft by prisoners, and burning by boxers. Save one.

This is a huge regret for human civilization, and Jiang Xinghuo doesn't want it to happen again.

In addition, Jiang Xinghuo also used this masterpiece, which is destined to attract world attention, to continue to promote scientific ideas.

After all, if the improved version of "Yongle Dadian", also known as "Encyclopedia of Ming Dynasty", is continuously printed and sent to the country during the revision process, then in the process of adding mathematics, physics, chemistry, life science and other subjects, In fact, it is the process of scientific promotion.

This is equivalent to a continuously published journal.

Jiang Xinghuo's move was actually part of the Enlightenment movement. The French royal family allowed Rousseau, Voltaire and others to continuously publish "Encyclopedias", which led to the formation of the "Encyclopedia School" ideological trend.

It’s best if different viewpoints can collide with each other and create excitement.

To open up people's wisdom, this kind of serial-like speculation is the most effective.

After all, it is human nature to eat melons.

And science is not afraid of refutation, because science can prove things.

Zhu Di was very moved when he heard this.

This is equivalent to a "killing two birds with one stone" strategy. It not only satisfies Zhu Di's desire to write a masterpiece to highlight civil rule, but also gives the opposition scholar-bureaucrats who oppose the reform something to do.

But Zhu Di soon discovered a problem.

"Master, where does the money come from?"

Yes, it took thousands of literati to work on the project for ten years to repair a masterpiece, but the food and drink remuneration was second to none. The problem was collecting, purchasing, and finding unique private copies, and the money needed was lost.

"His Majesty just mentioned that Annan has changed."

Jiang Xinghuo glanced at the map on the dragon case and said.

"Your Majesty, if the reform is launched, the textile production of South Zhili will increase dramatically. The three million people of Annan Kingdom will be transformed into kings. Don't they need to wear new clothes?"

"What's more, if you want to spawn large-scale handicraft factories, introduce cheap rice from Annam and Champa, and free farmers from farmland, this is a necessary prerequisite."

A glimmer of light flashed in Zhu Di's eyes.

It seems inevitable to conquer Annan.

PS: I still owe two more chapters with the monthly pass, and I will try to make up for it tomorrow. I’m currently working on the outline of the second volume, and it’s almost done.