My God, I am the emperor, the lord of mankind.

Chapter 385 Four Books

And I felt that the atmosphere between the two people next to me was not right.

Li Changshou was not in a hurry, folding his arms and leaning on the broken but not crumbling pillar beside him.

He watched the civil and military struggle in front of him with great interest.

Although I am also a member of the imperial military system in name, in fact everyone knows how we rangers are used as cattle and horses by the imperial court.

and so--

beat! Hit me hard!

Beat them all to death, you bunch of dog officials!

Regardless of the expression on the side of the ranger's face, he didn't mind the excitement.

Liu Zhen was silent for a moment when he heard Gao Lin's words.

Replied.

"My transfer order was approved by the cabinet elders during the Zhengde period. At that time, Yang Yiqing was still in the cabinet. The cabinet ordered the Ministry of Revenue to draft the edict... There is still a backup archive in the Ministry of Revenue, but the cabinet elders made an agreement with me at the time. I will keep this matter secret, and forgive me for not being able to tell you the reason——"

It's an old story from the Zhengde Dynasty again. Was it the order given by Yang Yiqing and his gang?

Gao Lin thought when he heard Liu Zhen's answer.

Since today's emperor came to the throne, he has dealt with the relatives of the powerful officials of the previous dynasty.

What if Yang Yiqing had not chosen to form a potential alliance with the sharks through Empress Dowager Zhang and use the power of the sharks to maintain the stability of the empire, but unfortunately he would have overturned.

Liu Zhen never dared to call Yang Tinghe by his first name.

However, Yang Tinghe and his gang members have now been designated by the court as accomplices who assisted Empress Dowager Zhang in murdering the late emperor, and were trying to assist Prince Ning in usurping the Ming Dynasty.

Although the imperial court took the late emperor's reputation into consideration, it did not specify the canonical punishment for Yang Yiqing, a great evil man.

He was simply dismissed from his post and returned home, and his crimes were partially announced to the world, allowing this former imperial scholar to achieve a real social death.

But even so, the students in the world who once regarded themselves as disciples of Yang Ting and the first assistant were all in danger for a while, and they wished they could sever ties with this person immediately.

"..."

Gao Lin stared at the imperial censor in front of him and confirmed that he was not lying.

Said.

"I will continue to investigate this matter...but there are some questions that I still need the censor to answer for me."

"If I know and can tell, I can certainly tell you everything, but I would like to remind General Gao that the Ministry of Household Affairs must have kept records of what happened here. It is impossible for the court not to know what happened here... Since Until now, he has not chosen to make this matter public to the world. Naturally, he has his reasons and concerns. The general is determined to pursue the investigation, but he must also consider the court's grand plan and not act rashly——"

Looking at Gao Lin in front of him, Liu Zhen reminded him seriously.

And just as he thought, when Gao Lin heard this, his eyes were obviously slightly shaken.

The reason why the Ming Dynasty was able to maintain the relative unity and stability of all parts of the empire after the decline of the royal court.

In addition to several generations of emperors practicing balancing techniques, or diverting troubles to the east, provoking wars and shifting conflicts, although some local courts cannot deal with them, if they do not take the initiative to provoke them, they will not cause too much trouble to the court's rule. For strange things, a policy of appeasement or isolation is adopted.

For monsters that communicate with spirits and intelligence, and whose strength has reached a certain level and are not easily dealt with by the imperial court sending troops, they can be bribed by Zhao'an by canonizing them as land and river gods, etc.

After Zhu Houcong ascended the throne, he sent the imperial troops from various places to various places, combined with the ghosts and gods worshiped by the wealthy families in various places, and cooperated with the army of the local guards to encircle and suppress them. Most of the things they cleared were this kind of thing.

As for other strange things that cannot communicate, but as long as they keep a distance, they can ensure that the place is generally stable.

If the court cannot handle it, it will use various means to isolate it or minimize the damage it causes to the people.

When the central government is unable to completely eradicate the demons in these places, and also has to deal with foreign wars.

This method indeed allowed the Ming court to maintain apparent stability and peace at the minimum cost, so that the court did not have to allocate resources and troops to deal with the endless demon chaos in the country, and could concentrate on conducting foreign wars and dealing with those who might be in the country. forces that threaten their own rule.

Of course, the disadvantages of not being able to eliminate all harmful effects are also obvious. After finding out the attitude of the Ming court, these local monsters will soon start to secretly organize evil cults and obscene sacrifices, requiring mortals to sacrifice flesh and blood.

As for the local population that goes missing every year.

Although the yellow registration system had already collapsed during the Zhengtong years, the imperial court had long been unable to obtain real local household registration information.

But the Ming court should be very aware of what is happening locally as the central government weakens.

Unfortunately, since Tumubao, it has faced challenges from the increasingly powerful Mongolian royal court in the north, as well as internal forces including the chieftain White Lotus Sect and the world's wealthy families.

The Ming Dynasty itself cannot be protected.

Naturally, it is impossible to allocate energy to take care of local affairs.

As long as they are still willing to obey the court's orders.

The Ming court would acquiesce to many of the things they did in the local area, and would turn a blind eye to the blood-eating and blood-sacrifice that these demons secretly colluded with local wealthy families.

Gao Lin, as the Bohai Gao family, was naturally very aware of the previous concession policies of the Ming court in various places.

Now that he heard Liu Zhen's words, his heart was shaken.

But then I thought about the fact that now that the Holy King is in power, the imperial court has ordered the annihilation of the grass-headed gods in various places and the destruction of the evil cults and obscene rituals in various places.

There is a strong tendency to completely eliminate these demons from the land under the jurisdiction of the Ming court.

My heart felt settled again.

"If the investigation continues to be really harmful to the country, I will cut my own throat and confess my crime with blood - but before that, I need to know everything -"

Then, as the Jurchen Comfort General and the deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town, he eliminated this great harm for the court.

Gao Lin said in a deep voice.

"In that case——"

Seeing Gao Lin's firm attitude, Liu Zhen was also infected for a while.

He looked at General Ming Ting in front of him, who for some reason had doubts about him from the first moment they met, with a touch of respect in his eyes.

"I must tell you everything I know——"

Liu Zhen's eyes were full of reminiscence, thinking about how to do it in a way that would least involve the big shots in the court.

He told General Ming Ting what he had seen and heard in the land that had raised him for many years.

Li Changshou on the side also became interested when he saw this. He left the ruins of the Zhao family and listened closely.

"It was the ninth year of Zhengde. News of the unification of the northern Mongols spread to the capital, which shocked the entire imperial court, which had just pacified Liu Liu and Liu Qi in Hebei and was now focusing on suppressing the peasant uprising in Jiangxi—"

……

One day in the ninth year of Zhengde.

Liu Zhen, who was preparing for the Spring Festival, was woken up from the cold on the straw mat.

The first thing he did when he got up was to give his half of the sheepskin to his mother, who had not eaten for three days in order to pay for his travel expenses to the provincial capital for the imperial examination.

He took out half of the "Collected Commentary on the Four Books" written by Zhu Xi that had been stapled again with needle and thread because it had been read so many times that the pages were worn and the spine was broken.

Started today’s morning reading.

(End of this chapter)