Anyone who cries in the temple will be killed!
This order was not passed through the Ministry of Justice, but was directly issued to the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
If it goes through the Ministry of Justice, it will inevitably require haggling with those ministers and waste some time. It would be much easier if it goes through the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
The Jinyiwei organization originated from this.
With the Emperor's authorization, special matters will be handled specially!
Jiangnan.
In a Confucian temple.
After some gentry and clan leaders came here, they gathered together and began to cry and complain. They were quite famous and could easily incite many people. Under their instigation, some of the lower-class people followed them in crying and complaining, while others gathered together to appeal, hoping that the court would revoke its decision.
Such a large number of people crying in a temple would often attract the attention of the imperial court and cause headaches for local officials.
Once government officials touched upon the interests of these gentry, they would use this method to lodge complaints, and over time, it even became a custom.
If it were any other emperor, he would have taken the opinions of the gentry and the people into consideration and mainly tried to appease them. After all, the law does not punish everyone, and you can't just arrest all the troublemakers, right? There are just too many people involved.
However, this time, their expectations were obviously dashed.
In fact, these gentry and wealthy families also know that the current emperor is not a monarch who is easy to compromise. It is very risky for them to do so and they may easily get into trouble.
But even knowing this, they still did it without hesitation.
It's really that the court's decrees are too harsh.
The move of splitting up the family directly hits their vital artery. If it is carried out, these big families will fall apart!
In order to regain their previous power and status, these people will fight to the end regardless of the consequences.
At this moment, in this Jiangnan Confucian Temple.
The sound of crying was endless, and all kinds of sad words were uttered. These gentry and clan leaders who were once high and mighty were now like a group of shrews, madly complaining about the court.
They didn't dare to say it directly. If they said it directly, it would be treasonous. Of course they couldn't do such a thing. They were not stupid enough to do that, but they could beat around the bush and even use quotations from saints.
For example, this classic quote from Mencius.
“If the ruler treats his subjects as his own hands and feet, then the subjects will treat the ruler as their own heart and soul; if the ruler treats his subjects as dogs and horses, then the subjects will treat the ruler as their fellow countrymen; if the ruler treats his subjects as dirt, then the subjects will treat the ruler as their enemy!”
Just as these people were crying and complaining, suddenly a team of Jinyiwei in armor pushed through the crowd and rushed in.
"Jinyiwei is investigating the case, outsiders please get out of the way!"
When a team of Jinyiwei rushed in, the clan leaders who were crying and complaining were stunned, their eyes widened, and they were a little panicked for a moment.
"You...what are you going to do?"
Faced with such a ridiculous question, Jinyiwei Deputy Commander Ji Zhengwu smiled coldly and said, "What do you want to do? You have committed a crime!!"
"We are just here to worship the saints and sages. We haven't done anything. Is there anything wrong in worshipping the saints and sages? What kind of crime is this? What basis do you have for arresting people?" Some people were still unconvinced and decided to put up a fight.
As soon as these words were spoken, they received a huge response, and many people were filled with righteous indignation.
"Mr. Li is right! We are here to worship the saints and sages. Is that a crime?"
"Why are you arresting people?"
"Can the Jinyiwei arrest anyone at will?"
"The Ming Dynasty has its own laws. You can't be so lawless!"
"We are here with the master to worship the saints and sages. We haven't done anything. You can't just arrest people!"
The common people all spoke up to dissuade them. If it was just an ordinary official, it would be difficult to force him to do his job. If it angered the public, it would be difficult to deal with.
But for the Jinyiwei, this was not a big deal at all.
Ji Zhengwu, deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, directly drew out his Embroidered Spring Sword and killed the man who rushed over to push them.
A large human head was thrown into the air in an instant and then rolled to the ground.
The man who was killed didn't even react. He looked around in disbelief and blinked. He couldn't believe that he was killed like this!
The blood from the rest of the body spurted out like a fountain for a while before the body fell straight to the ground.
And there wasn't even a drop of blood on the sword of Ji Zhengwu, deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!
What a fast knife!
No one saw how the knife was struck, and the man was already dead.
The death of this man made the crowd, who were noisy just now, quiet down instantly. There was complete silence for a moment and everyone was stunned. It was the first time for these people to witness the cruelty of the Jinyiwei, who would kill people without any reason!
The saying "power in numbers" and "the law does not punish the masses" are nothing in front of these Jinyiwei!
Even Mr. Li, who had stood up to speak earlier, took a step back in fear.
Looking around at everyone, Ji Zhengwu said indifferently:
"Let me say one more thing. Jinyiwei is doing business. Anyone else please get out of the way!!"
As soon as these words were spoken, all the people scattered like frightened fish and birds, and disappeared in the blink of an eye. The gentry and clan leaders wanted to blend in with the crowd and leave, but they were stopped by the Jinyiwei.
Their aura, temperament, and clothing are completely different from those of ordinary people. If this can still make them run away, then the Jinyiwei are just eating for nothing.
"Sir..." Mr. Li, who was filled with righteous indignation before, now stuttered and asked: "What crime have we committed?"
"You incited the people, gathered a crowd to cause trouble, and openly defied the imperial decree. What crime do you think you have committed?"
Ji Zhengwu said this coldly, and then he was too lazy to say anything more. There was no need to say so much to a dying person.
Ji Zhengwu waved his hand, and immediately the Jinyiwei took away the gentry and wealthy people who were crying in the temple.
Although these people are doomed to die, the necessary procedures still have to be followed. It is still necessary to first capture them in the Jinyiwei prison, use the great memory recovery technique to let them know their crimes, and then punish them according to the law.
This time, the Jiangnan Temple Crying Case ended with the beheading of more than a dozen gentry clan leaders. The imperial court proved its attitude to all the gentry and wealthy families in the world - if you don’t split up and still want to resist, then die!
After hearing the news.
Some people who were planning to follow the example of these Jiangnan clan leaders suddenly felt fortunate that they did not learn from them!
If you really learn it, you will die!
Although dividing the family property was like cutting flesh with a knife and was extremely painful for these gentry clan leaders, as direct descendants of the family, they could get a fairly good share of the family property and could continue to live a good life, just not as good as before.
With the precedent of these dozen unlucky clan leaders, not many people dared to unite to resist. For a while, the activities of splitting up the clans were in full swing all over the country.
Zhengzhai Town.
Zheng family mansion.
Zheng Zhu was high up, sitting in the position of the clan leader. The people below were all direct descendants, and at the moment, everyone had an ugly look on their faces.
The property that belongs to them is going to be divided up!
How uncomfortable is this?
Someone couldn't help but ask, "Father, is there no room for maneuver in this matter?"
"No, this is the result of the court's trial against us. To a certain extent, the wave of family division that was taking place across the country was caused by the previous incident in our Zheng family." Zheng Zhu smiled bitterly, shook his head, and said helplessly.
He knew very well that with the general trend like this, a small Zheng family could not resist.
The direct descendants below were still somewhat unwilling and were about to say something, but at this moment, a member of the Zheng family, who were descendants of the concubine lineage, came over and clamored to divide the family and get their own property!
The matter of dividing the family was extremely painful for the direct descendants, but it was a great joy for the illegitimate descendants. They were all so happy that they did not even need the urging and supervision of the court. They took the initiative to negotiate with the main family to get the share of the family property that they deserved!
After seeing this group of people, Zheng Zhu was furious and felt like his lungs were about to explode.
"Asshole! Asshole!!"
Zheng Zhu was furious and pointed his cane at these people. He said angrily: "Have you forgotten the Zheng family's ancestral teachings? How did our family come about? It would be fine if the court forced us to separate, but you actually took the initiative to rush here to separate the family. Do you really think that separation is a good thing?!"
"The reason why my Zheng family has been so prosperous for so many years is because we have lived together for generations, sticking together and never leaving each other. That is why we have today!"
"You guys are really short-sighted!"
When clan leader Zheng Zhu got angry, those who were clamoring to divide the family were suddenly silenced.
However, some people still hesitated and said, "Chief, it's not us who want to split up, but this is an order from the court. Of course we have to complete the split as soon as possible. If we wait for the court to come and split up under their supervision, it would seem that we are not sincere enough!"
As soon as this person opened his mouth, someone immediately agreed with him. Under normal circumstances, as a descendant of a concubine's family, he was naturally inferior to these direct descendants. Moreover, when facing the clan leader, they would not dare to refute or even speak. But now it was different.
Now, they have the imperial court backing them up and standing behind them to support them. With such a big banner, even if they are descendants of a concubine's family, they dare to argue with the clan leader.
"Yes! Clan leader, Xiu Qing and his men beat those people out of the office before, which caused this incident. It has nothing to do with us! But now if we don't let the court see our sincerity and complete the separation in advance, what if we are punished again?"
"That's right, we should separate in advance and let the court see our sincerity, that's the only way!"
"Yes, this is an order from the imperial court. We are of course very reluctant, but there is nothing we can do!"
These people spoke with a look of sorrow on their faces, but they almost laughed out loud.
The rebuttals from the crowd made clan leader Zheng Zhu silent. In the past, these people would not dare to talk back to him, but now... their morale has been dispersed!
The court's strategy of splitting up the family was truly extremely powerful!
Zheng Zhu sighed , slowly closed his eyes, and then slowly said: "Then let's separate the family in advance!!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the direct descendants in the room looked as pale as death, while the illegitimate descendants who had rushed over could hardly conceal the smiles on their faces. Many of them pretended to be serious and covered their mouths with their hands.
However, there was one junior who couldn't hold back and laughed out loud.
The laughter was so harsh that all the direct descendants in the room stared at him with wide eyes.
"why are you laughing!"
"Don't get me wrong, I just thought of something happy." The young man hurriedly explained, but such an explanation seemed to make things worse!
…
As the separation of gentry and wealthy families across the country was in full swing, the offices set up by the court took advantage of the opportunity and were established at the right time.
The gentry and wealthy families were busy fighting among themselves and had no time to care about the disputes among the people. The office at this time was just right to solve this kind of problem, and naturally resolved the historical problem of the imperial power going to the countryside.
As the imperial power extended deeper into the countryside, Su Che could do whatever he wanted with ease.
The private literacy school was promoted very smoothly, and the pinyin that Su Che brought out also became a powerful tool for literacy.
At the same time, Su Che also promoted simplified Chinese characters, which further reduced the difficulty of literacy.
When you use both pinyin and simplified characters, as long as you study hard, you can basically learn a lot.
In ancient times, promoting simplified characters was actually not difficult.
Because simplified characters are not a modern invention, but have existed since ancient times and have a long history.
Simplifying fonts is the general trend of history, not something that has only been promoted in modern times.
Many of the modern simplified characters are simplified characters used among the people, and some are derived from cursive writing.
The earliest characters that can be found are the bamboo slips and silk books unearthed from Han tombs in Mawangdui, many of which are in simplified Chinese.
It is said that some simplified characters also belong to the pre-Qin characters.
There were some simplified characters in the inscriptions of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. By the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there were many simplified characters, which were quite common among the people. At that time, these simplified characters were called "vulgar characters."
Many of the simplified characters used today actually already existed during the Sui and Tang dynasties.
The "Ganlu Character Book" written by Yan Yuansun in the Tang Dynasty and the "Kanmiu Buque Qieyun" written by Wang Renxu both included a large number of vernacular characters (simplified characters).
After the Song Dynasty, with the invention of printing, simplified Chinese characters were transferred from inscriptions and handwriting to woodblock printed books, thereby expanding the popularity of simplified Chinese characters and greatly increasing their number.
The Ming Dynasty also contributed many simplified characters, accounting for more than 10%.
Eighty to ninety percent of modern simplified Chinese characters are Chinese characters that have existed since ancient times.
Therefore, promoting simplified characters in ancient times was not a fantasy and was not difficult.
As time passed, Su Che was no longer in a hurry to come up with new decrees. The state machine of the Ming Dynasty had been running at high capacity for a long time and needed some time to rest.
These days, the literacy campaign has been a great success, and simplified characters have been thoroughly circulated among the people. Even the officials have been affected. The memorials received by Su Che are basically composed of simplified characters. This is also what Su Che advocated and is welcomed by everyone.
During this period of time, Su Che also took some time to revise some unreasonable parts of the edict.