"What is wrong with punishing corruption with severe laws?"
Inside Huagai Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang peeled an orange while speaking with clear disdain.
"Those corrupt officials and filthy functionaries always feel they were forced into it. Every one of them claims to have his own hardships."
"But have they ever thought whether the common people who died unjustly had hardships? Whether those honest folk who lived peacefully yet still ended with their families destroyed had hardships?"
"When they band together in collusion, enriching themselves at public expense until resentment fills the realm, when that day comes, will those filthy officials bother listening to my hardships?"
The phrase about pressing a warm face against a cold backside might be somewhat vulgar, but he did not mind it. In fact, he felt the later generations had put it quite accurately.
He faintly remembered that when the Twenty-Four Generals marched south and secured Dingyuan, everyone inside and outside had been united like brothers.
Later, when he established his command and expanded the army, recruiting capable men and balancing various factions already required considerable effort.
And once the Great Ming was founded, some of those former old followers had practically become enemies to him.
The more he spoke, the more irritated Zhu Yuanzhang became.
The result was that the orange in his hand was crushed into pulp.
Beside him, Empress Ma, who had been waiting to share the fruit, did not mind at all. She calmly took a handkerchief and carefully wiped his hands clean.
That, instead, made Zhu Yuanzhang feel somewhat embarrassed.
After his hands were cleaned, he took another orange and pondered for a moment.
"As for being cruel and fond of killing… I truly do not know where such claims come from."
Leaving aside the figure of seventy or eighty thousand, even the earlier statement that the Hu-Lan Cases involved more than thirty thousand executions already surprised him.
At present, the total number of Ming officials did not even reach that figure.
Under such circumstances, executing that many would be equivalent to plowing through the entire officialdom.
Expecting the realm not to fall into chaos afterward would be nothing but a fool's dream.
Of course, there was also the issue of executions involving the extermination of nine kinship groups, which could greatly increase the number of implicated people.
But since the founding of Ming, how many had truly been punished with extermination of their clans?
As even the later generations had said, in the Hu Weiyong Case, people such as Tu Jie and Chen Ning were executed according to their own crimes. No additional charges were extended to their families.
He, Zhu Chongba, indeed punished corruption with heavy penalties.
But it was not as though every corrupt official he caught was immediately condemned to the extermination of nine clans.
However, since the descendants' explanation had been unclear, Zhu Yuanzhang felt there was little point in dwelling on it.
He could only say helplessly,
"In the Blank Seal affair, those punished numbered fewer than a thousand. How could those implicated in execution exceed ten thousand?"
"As for later implications… let this serve as a lesson to me. I shall learn from Zhuge Wuhou in maintaining strict laws, and emulate Emperor Taizong of Tang in leaving imperial principles for later generations."
In just a few sentences, Zhu Yuanzhang had already roughly sorted out his thinking.
The Ming emperors after him would not have risen from humble origins like he had, witnessing all the conditions of the world.
Nor would they personally conquer the realm with their own hands and possess such tremendous achievements.
Nor would they possess such a… absurdly resilient body as he did, allowing them to personally manage every matter without relying heavily on others.
In such circumstances, rather than hoping later generations would be wise and heroic rulers, it would be better to perfect the laws and revise the ancestral instructions.
In this way, the intentions of later Ming generations might continue the spirit of the Hongwu era in a consistent line.
Yet when mentioning Emperor Taizong of Tang, and speaking of wise descendants, Zhu Yuanzhang could not help letting his gaze drift toward his fourth son.
Thinking about it now, when the ancient emperors of China had spoken on the light screen about Zhu Biao, Wuhou had first asked whether he was benevolent and filial, and only afterward asked whether he had married.
That sequence now seemed somewhat strange.
Compared with that, the Tang dynasty's "Li Erfeng," Li Shimin, had indeed misled them. No wonder afterward the others had quickly changed the subject and avoided speaking further about the Yongle Emperor.
Now that he had calmed down further, Zhu Yuanzhang did not feel much resentment.
After all, from their words it had been clear how satisfied and affectionate he was toward Zhu Biao.
Under such circumstances, if they had bluntly said something like "Your son seems fated not to live long," it would have sounded like deliberate provocation, even like meddling in family affairs across several hundred years.
No matter how one looked at it, there probably would have been no perfect way to handle it.
With a faint sigh in his heart, Zhu Yuanzhang raised his head.
What he saw was Zhu Di looking at him attentively.
"Let your son peel an orange for Father."
But that action made Zhu Biao smile as well, and he stepped forward.
"Your son will also peel an orange for Father."
Soon two peeled oranges were placed before him.
Zhu Di immediately waved his hands repeatedly.
"In that case, Elder Brother may do the peeling."
Fortunately Empress Ma leaned forward at that moment, took the orange from Zhu Di without discussion, and then placed the one peeled by her eldest son into Zhu Yuanzhang's hand.
"If you are going to eat fruit, then simply eat fruit properly."
Among the brothers, Zhu Gang, who had earlier worn a look of eager amusement, now grew slightly subdued.
…
Inside Guangzheng Hall, Zhao Kuangyin appeared somewhat more relaxed.
He even smiled and said to Zhao Pu,
"For me to have you, Duke Zhao, is the fortune of the Song."
If one counted carefully, he and the Hongwu Emperor were both men who had risen from the military ranks.
It would be false to claim there had been no affection among brothers in the army.
Yet since the late Tang, the problem of military governors dominating regions had also made him understand more clearly that if one truly wished to establish a great enterprise, such tendencies must be eliminated.
And to accomplish that goal, there was only one method.
To rely upon civil governance and law.
Thus in the end Zhao Pu worked with him, carefully devising reforms and institutional changes, until matters became what they were now.
Iron certificates of merit could not be relied upon.
Promises of eternal wealth and honor could not be trusted.
What could preserve the Song for centuries was only a balance where both civil and military were maintained without neglect, and capable men were allowed to advance.
Zhao Pu's face was also full of smiles as he cupped his hands toward Zhao Kuangyin.
At this moment Li Yu looked left and right, pondering something.
"But I recall that Duke Zhao was sent out to Heyang two years ago. Could it be…"
Zhao Kuangyin stroked his beard, his expression unchanged.
"That was because I ordered Duke Zhao to inspect Luoyang, in order to consider the matter of moving the capital."
Li Yu chuckled softly and nodded.
"If Your Majesty says so, then I naturally believe it."
Those words immediately made Zhao Kuangyin feel some regret.
The Lixian Residence he had sold to Li Yu had indeed been sold far too cheaply.
---
[Lightscreen]
[According to the three-stage view of Zhu Yuanzhang we mentioned earlier, his first stage lasted nearly twenty years.
During this period, what kind of attitude he held toward officials can be seen through specific examples.
In modern discussions about the Blank Seal Case, one important argument concerning whether it was a miscarriage of justice involves the memorial submitted by Zheng Shili discussing the Blank Seals.
In that memorial he mentioned that "sealing first and writing later was merely a temporary expedient and had existed for a long time."
Zheng Shili himself held no official position.
However, he had an elder brother named Zheng Shiyuan, who served as Vice Surveillance Commissioner of Huguang, and was one of the officials involved in the Blank Seal Case.
As for the circumstances surrounding Zheng Shili's memorial, the historical records describe them quite clearly.
In the same year the Blank Seal Case occurred, there was a change in celestial phenomena.
Thus Zhu Yuanzhang issued a proclamation to the realm, declaring that anyone with opinions could speak freely.
This Zheng Shili did not hold back. He wrote a memorial of more than a thousand characters.
However, the memorial was not immediately delivered to Zhu Yuanzhang.
By that time the Blank Seal Case had already broken out. As a family member of one of the accused, to avoid appearing to speak publicly for private interests, the memorial was only submitted after Zheng Shiyuan had completed his punishment for the case.
And indeed, in the memorial Zheng Shili barely mentioned the celestial omens.
The vast majority of the content discussed the Blank Seal Case.
Overall his opinions were summarized into four points.
But all four points shared a single demand.
The Blank Seal Case should not have been prosecuted.]