Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 043: A Slap on the Face Must Hurt (Part 4)
If you ask what the parliamentarians in the so-called Western democratic countries are in modern society, any adult with a little common sense will tell you that the so-called parliamentarians are just representatives of the financial backers, or they themselves are the financial backers.
In the Ming Dynasty, what were the censors and imperial censors of this era? In fact, many of them were similar to the so-called parliamentarians of later generations. Behind them stood the bigwigs of the court or big businessmen. Their role was generally to be cannon fodder for the bigwigs behind the scenes to attack political enemies and achieve their own goals.
Of course, according to the actual situation, the ancient Chinese feudal society was actually strictly operated according to Xunzi's idea of "respecting rituals and emphasizing laws". Although most of the censors and censors in the ancient Chinese dynasties were spokespersons for the interests of the bosses, no matter what, on the surface, everyone was labeled as "integrity" - I impeach you, not for interests or the instructions of the boss behind me, but for justice, for the whole society, for the people, for justice... ...I impeach you!
Let's talk about specific things. There may be one or two fools among the censors, but most of them are not stupid. They still have to think a lot before deciding whether to impeach someone.
The best impeachment is the one that does not involve any retaliation and can increase one's reputation. There are not many such opportunities, but once they come, everyone will rush in without the need for a boss behind the scenes to speak or to organize: for example, more than a year ago, everyone impeached Guo Zhengyu for not teaching the crown prince well, which led to the crown prince's greed for money.
The second-class impeachment is that after impeachment, one's reputation will increase greatly, but there may be retaliation. This one needs to be weighed. Because the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, except for the previous Taizu and Chengzu, did not like to kill people. Therefore, impeaching an emperor is not a very risky thing, but the benefits are bound to be very high. Therefore, if there is a chance to impeach the emperor, it is also necessary to actively do it - for example, in the dispute over the national foundation.
The next one is political struggle. The risk is obviously greater than the benefit. However, as a censor, you are often a puppet of the bosses. So, although you don't want to be a cannon fodder, when the boss calls you, in addition to being brave, you have to pretend to be righteous - otherwise, it would be a pity if you die without a good reputation.
In short, those who can serve as officials in the Ming Dynasty are not fools. Before submitting a petition, you should still consider the comparison between the benefits and the costs. There are people like Hai Rui who submit death-defying petitions, but there are definitely not too many.
To be more specific about Zhu Youdong's soap industry, in fact, soon after the soap was launched, the news that the crown prince was the major shareholder spread. The censors actually wanted to impeach him. However, on the one hand, the crown prince was still very young. Do you think it is true that a four-and-a-half-year-old child could do so many things? If it is true, it will make people unconsciously think of the strange phenomenon in the sky and earth more than four years ago - impeaching the crown prince, is it against God?
Besides, this year is the year of the imperial examination! Now is not the time to fight for the national foundation. If you offend the crown prince, you will offend the emperor and the crown prince at the same time. That shameless Prime Minister Shen Yikuan is very soft on the emperor, and this year's imperial examination is presided over by him... Tsk tsk tsk tsk, just bear with it, at worst, wait until this year's imperial examination is over and then take action next year.
So, the soap has been on the market for a long time, but the censors have been holding back and not taking any action.
However, after the auction, the censors were forced to take action.
Why? Because the big guys behind me said so.
The auction was called an auction, but it was actually more of a designation. Who were they designated to? They were designated to the big merchants controlled by the royal family and nobles. This meant that many big merchants controlled by high-ranking officials did not get the monopoly. As a result, some bigwigs were unhappy.
You want us to have no money to earn, right? Then I will overturn the table and make sure no one can earn any money!
"Hehe, Dong'er, where are you? Come, come, take a look at these impeachment memorials. Hmm, there are more than 200 of them. Almost all of them impeach you. Of course, I and the Crown Prince also suffered a lot as a result, hahahaha~~~"
You money-grubber, why are you so happy right now? Didn't I just give 50,000 taels of silver to the palace a few days ago? You are the emperor of a country, is 50,000 taels of silver enough to make you happy for so long?
Well, let me take a look... Oh, they are indeed elites trained by the eight-part essay. Such brilliant writing!
Things like "If a ruler loves his possessions more than the people, he is not a ruler." " He sets an exorbitant price for a ridiculous item and robs the people of their food." "He does not follow the words of the saints and spends his days with merchants. The situation of the Ming Dynasty in a few decades is something I cannot bear to talk about."... and so on. These are all minor ones. The most classic one is this one: In the competition for the gong and the shackles, every penny counts, the public treasury is full, and the private sector is empty.
"Hahahaha, Grandpa Emperor, I remember this sentence, it was the original words in Luo Yuren's book about wine, sex, money and anger many years ago, right? "
"Hmm? Poof~~" Wanli, who was sitting there leisurely and wanted to see Zhu Youdong's embarrassed look, suddenly spit out the tea in his mouth: "What's going on? How can these censors be so shameless that they just copy and paste words that have been used by others?"
"That's right, this is a classic saying. My grandson's teacher even took it out and asked him to read it."
"Hey! These ministers are so bold! I am still alive, and they let my good grandson learn this. Well, let's not talk about these. Prince, what do you think we should do about this matter?"
"Uh... Father, this..."
Crown Prince Zhu Changluo was very conflicted about this matter.
On the one hand, the prince had just received 20,000 taels of silver from Zhu Youdong some time ago. The prince, who was afraid of poverty, had a lot of money in his hands recently. He was also much more generous to his concubines and the eunuchs around him. As a result, he heard more sweet words, and the concubines served him in bed and worked harder. The eunuchs who served him also worked more seriously. So, this money is really a good thing.
However, his teachers have made serious representations to him many times. They asked him to take care of his son. The reasons were still the same: How could the grandson handle business affairs personally? Even if he was a businessman, how could he handle something like soap? Didn't you hear people say that after this thing came out, it was the most popular with women, especially the girls in brothels. Those high-end brothels were better, but in the low-end brothels, a piece of soap could keep a girl serving for a whole day! How could the royal family have anything to do with brothels?
The prince was a kind-hearted man, but also a stubborn one. He always believed that if it weren't for his teachers and other righteous ministers who supported him, his position as the prince would have been taken away by the third son before Zhu Youdong was born. So he couldn't refuse his teachers' request.
However, this soap business also brought him real money.
"Uh, Father, Dong'er, how about we lower the price of the soap?"
"snort!"
After the grandfather and grandson simultaneously expressed their contempt for the prince, the two shameless guys, one old and one young, who were obsessed with money, started to discuss things among themselves.
"Don't be afraid, Dong'er. Grandpa has seen this kind of situation many times. Keep them all in the school. Let's see how long they can make trouble. If they make too much trouble, we will select a few of them to be beaten with a stick in the court!"
"Grandpa Emperor, I think there is nothing wrong with doing this. But there are actually a lot of new things piled up in my farm waiting to be put on the market. If we don't beat this wave, these guys will keep making trouble in the future. It's so annoying."
"There's something else? Tsk, tsk, how much money can this make?"
"I'm not sure, but in a year , it shouldn't be a problem to replenish the emperor's inner treasury with 500,000 taels of silver."
"Five hundred thousand?! Well, my dear grandson, what do you want to do? Grandpa will obey you!"
"Well, this matter is going to be like this, like this, like this."
