Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 570 The Last Lesson
"Your Highness, Li Jia, pays respect to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
"Mr. Li, there is no need to be so polite. You came very early today. Have you had breakfast? I will ask the staff to prepare another one for you."
"I have already eaten. Uh, Your Highness, I am here to bid you farewell."
"Goodbye? Sir, are you leaving me? May I ask what I did wrong that made you leave me?"
"I dare not. I am very lucky to have a student like Your Highness. It is because the Emperor has a new mission."
Looking at the prince opposite him who was only about ten years old but had perfectly inherited the heroic appearance and agile physique of his mother, Concubine You from the Shanxi military household, Li Jia sighed deeply in his heart.
This prince is handsome, kind-hearted, smart, and hardworking. He is simply a perfect student. No, in Li Jia's opinion, he is simply a perfect candidate for the crown prince.
Unfortunately, etiquette and law are above all else. As the queen already has two sons, the possibility of this man inheriting the throne is almost non-existent.
He was lost in thought, while Zhu Ciyi had already finished reading the copy of Man Gui's memorial that he handed over. When the ten-year-old eldest prince raised his head again, his face was filled with pity: "This is simply inhumane! I didn't expect there is such a place in the world. Sir, does your father want you to rescue the millions of serfs here?"
"Your Highness, I cannot do this kind of meritorious deed alone. I am only going there to do my part."
"Sir..." The ten-year-old boy hesitated for a while, his face almost flushed, and finally spoke: "How about I ask the emperor for permission to go to Tibet with you?"
"Your Highness, you must not have such thoughts. The snowy areas are all on the plateau, the air is thin, the climate is cold, and the sunlight is extremely strong. If you go up there at your age, your life may be in danger."
"Besides." Seeing that His Royal Highness still wanted to go to Tibet, Li Jia hurriedly continued: "Your Highness has been following the Emperor all the way. Haven't you seen enough tragic things in the world?"
"Yes." After hearing what his master said, Zhu Ciyi nodded solemnly: "When I was in the palace before, I listened to my mother, the palace maids and eunuchs around me talking about my father's deeds, how he corrected the chaos and revitalized the country. I thought that my Ming Dynasty was already rich and strong, and there were no more hidden worries. Who knew that after going out like this, I saw so many unspeakable things."
He took a step forward, and his voice became deeper: "In Lianghuai, there are still a large number of disaster victims during the flood season every year, and people even sell their children. In Nanzhili, factory workers work fifteen or sixteen hours a day for a meager salary. If they are accidentally injured at work, they will be abandoned by their employers. In Fujian, there are many mountains and little land, and typhoons and sea invasions come every year. The people work hard for a year, but still can hardly get enough food and clothing, so they have to take the risk of going out to sea to do business. In Huguang and even the entire Yangtze River Basin, countless people suffer from schistosomiasis, and their livers and spleens are enlarged and their stomachs are filled with ascites at a young age. In the Wuling Mountain area in western Hunan and eastern Sichuan, filariasis and goiter are still rampant. In Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou, malaria is still rampant... It is said that the people's livelihood in the south of our Ming Dynasty is far better than that in the north. This is the case in the south, I really don't know what the north looks like."
"What I like most about Your Highness is your benevolence towards the people. During the emperor's tour of the country, Your Highness paid the most attention to people's livelihood, which is what I am most pleased about." After praising him, Li Jia said seriously, "So, Your Highness, even in the Central Plains of our Ming Dynasty, people's livelihood is very difficult. The people in our Central Plains have been bullied a lot by local tyrants and evil gentry. Those who have gone bankrupt due to illness or natural disasters and have to sell themselves into slavery can survive if they meet a kind-hearted master, but if they meet a black-hearted master, I am afraid they will not be able to escape death."
"Sir, you are right. However, our Ming Dynasty abolished slavery since the founding of the country by Emperor Taizu. Although the government was too lenient in the past few years, the trend of slavery has risen again in the Central Plains of our Ming Dynasty. But since the day when my father became the regent, he has checked the yellow book and reorganized the household registration, which has curbed the spread of slavery to a large extent. Nowadays, there are not many Han people who are slaves. Besides, no matter how harshly we Han people treat slaves, the most we can do is beat them to death. In any case, there is no collective behavior of the entire class to abuse and kill slaves."
"Your Highness is right." Seeing that the child had not given up the idea of going to the plateau, Li Jia was a little anxious: If this child really went to the emperor and told him about going to the plateau, wouldn't the emperor beat me to death? No, he must give up this idea.
"So, Your Highness, these suffering people are everywhere. Although the suffering of the people in the snowy areas is a little more serious, there are only one or two million people at most. However, the people in the Central Plains of my Ming Dynasty are over 100 million."
"Well... I understand what you said, sir. I am not very knowledgeable, so I will start with the small things around me and help the best people. When I have made achievements in the Central Plains in the future, if you are still in the Snow Region at that time, I will definitely come and work with you to eliminate serfdom."
Well? Well, as long as you don't insist on going to Tibet right away.
"Okay, enough of the idle chatter , Your Highness. Next, I will give Your Highness the last lesson."
"Yes, please teach me, sir."
"Today we are not going to talk about knowledge from books. Your Highness, this is the latest copy of the memorial that I got from the Emperor's attaché yesterday. Please take a look at it first and then analyze what is inside it."
"yes."
Li Jia gave Zhu Ciyi a pile of memorials. Although the memorials were submitted by different people and had different literary styles, the contents were basically the same: officials and gentry on both sides of the Huai River unanimously praised His Royal Highness the Prince Xin of the Great Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian, the Imperial Censor of Huai'an, for his conscientious work and vigorous and resolute work. During his three years as the Imperial Censor of Huai'an, he uncovered 98 corrupt officials, numerous runners involved in the case, and confiscated more than 2 million yuan in dirty silver.
"Your Highness, how about it, do you have any ideas?"
"Sixth Uncle is so amazing! Sir, Sixth Uncle may be the most popular censor in the Ming Dynasty in recent years, right?"
"Haha, as a prince, he has no taboos when investigating a case. His Royal Highness Prince Xin is of course the most popular censor in recent years. Well, apart from this, what else did His Royal Highness think of?"
"Uh..." After thinking hard for a while, Zhu Ciyi said softly, "Could it be that there are still many corrupt officials on both sides of the Huai River? And they are deeply connected with the local gentry. They praise Sixth Uncle so much, actually want Sixth Uncle to be promoted and then transferred away?"
"Hahaha, Your Highness is really smart. Yes, this is what these officials and gentry meant."
"But, sir. Even a student can see such a simple trick, so how could the emperor not see it?"
“Of course the emperor can see it, but he can also see the second meaning of the local bureaucrats and gentry.”
"The second level? I'm sorry, I can't figure it out."
"The second meaning is that the local gentry and merchants are demonstrating to the emperor. His Royal Highness Prince Xin has gone to this extent, which is the limit of what they can tolerate. If Prince Xin is allowed to leave now, everyone will look good. If Prince Xin is still not allowed to leave, then they will take further measures."
"How brave!" After patting the table lightly, Zhu Ciyi turned worried again: "Will they do anything bad to Uncle Six?"
"It's hard to say." Li Jia took a deep breath. "When I was the governor of Singapore, I wanted to attract people from the mainland to settle in Singapore because there were too few Han people in Singapore. At that time, the emperor had just decided to abandon the canal and switch to sea transportation. Millions of canal workers were about to have no place to live. I thought, in this way, there should be no resistance for me to take you to Singapore, right? As a result, when I went there to recruit people, I was almost drowned by the canal gang."
"Your Highness, you must remember that whenever you touch something of a vested interest, the other party will be very dissatisfied. If you are strong enough, he will tolerate it on the surface and do bad things in secret. If you are not strong enough, the other party will directly stab you with a knife! I just wanted to recruit 10,000 or 20,000 people to Singapore. This number is insignificant for the millions of canal workers. Even so, the canal gang took action. Now His Highness Prince Xin has turned the officialdom of Lianghuai upside down. Those guys can endure it until now because the majesty of the royal family has grown in recent years, so they have to endure it. However, these memorials were actually submitted publicly, which means that they don't want to endure it anymore."
"Oh, isn't Sixth Uncle in danger?" After saying this, Zhu Ciyi said dejectedly, "But if Father transfers Sixth Uncle away, won't all our efforts be wasted?"
"From what I know about the emperor, he will not be threatened in this way. And given his hatred for evil, even if the emperor wants to transfer him now, he will write a letter to argue. So, next, the emperor will definitely send more people to strengthen the protection of his highness. But, your highness, these are not what I want to teach you."
"...Sir, I understand. Just by arresting a few corrupt officials, the local gentry had the idea of killing the prince of the country. If I have my eyes on the position of the crown prince, then their counterattack will not be as simple as wanting to kill people."
"…I am relieved that Your Highness has thought of this. Your Highness, after I enter Tibet, I will no longer be by your side to defend you from all kinds of attacks. The so-called ruthlessness of the royal family is because it involves the greatest power and interests in the world, and the competition in this regard does not allow for any personal feelings. Your Highness is very good, and I have always believed that Your Highness will achieve great success in the future. But to achieve all this, Your Highness must be low-key now. Since you followed the emperor on tour, in the past two years, you have been much more dazzling than the second prince..."
"Yes, I understand. I will learn from your teaching. Please rest assured, I will protect myself. In the future, either you come out of the snowy area and I will invite you to serve as prime minister in my kingdom. Or I will go to Tibet and work with you to eliminate this evil serfdom!"
