allonlinenovel Chapter 178 Old Zhu: Look at our good son-in-law!
Chapter 178 Old Zhu: Look at our good son-in-law!
Emperor Zhu Chongba was unwilling to put down the memorial in his hand.
Look, look at the memorial written by our old Zhu's son-in-law, look at the suggestions he made.
What does it mean to have every word a gem?
What does "flowing like clouds and water" mean?
What is meant by a pillar of the nation?
That’s it!
Oh my, look at this sentence my son-in-law wrote: "He who does not plan for the long term is not fit to plan for the short term; he who does not plan for the whole is not fit to plan for a part."
And look at this sentence, "If you are prepared, you will succeed; if you are not prepared, you will fail." Although it comes from the Doctrine of the Mean, the 31st chapter of the Book of Rites, when you combine it with "He who does not plan for the long term is not fit to plan for the short term," and then combine it with the unprecedented long-term plans of the past century and the short-term plans and audits of the past five years, this is a magnificent article on governing the world!
Well, it's all thanks to our old Zhu's good judgment. He discovered such a good son-in-law early on and had our sister adopt his goddaughter and arrange the marriage. Our Biao will never have to worry about not having a capable minister in the future.
After reading through Magistrate Yang's memorial several times, Emperor Zhu simply ordered Erhu, "Go and find Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen, and Hu Weiyong for us."
When Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen, and Hu Weiyong arrived at the palace, Emperor Zhu first asked the three of them to sit down, and then reluctantly handed the memorial to Li Shanchang, saying, "Brother Shanchang, take a look at this first, take a look at this. This is a memorial written by a county magistrate of our Great Ming Dynasty. I think it's quite good."
A county magistrate?
And it's that guy surnamed Yang again?
As expected, the memorial began with "Yang, the magistrate of Ningyang County, which is directly under the jurisdiction of the Central Secretariat, respectfully submits a request to formulate a five-year plan."
Li Shanchang read on with trepidation, but he never expected that the next content would be "I have heard... that if one were to serve as an official and govern... the ruler... could not possibly hold all the duties of the world in one person."
Is this supposed to be a policy essay?
Furthermore, what's wrong with this guy surnamed Yang? He actually wrote something about "employing officials to govern" and "the ruler cannot hold all the positions of the world in one person."
It's important to understand that these sentences can be interpreted as "the emperor should ideally rule by doing nothing and delegate the specific tasks to his ministers." To put it more bluntly, the emperor should be aware of his role as a figurehead. Even though there's a line that says "it's all about assigning responsibilities to his ministers," it doesn't change the fact that this article is essentially advising the emperor to relinquish power.
After glancing at Emperor Zhu Chongba, Li Shanchang felt something was amiss.
Something's not right. This person surnamed Yang has written such treasonous things, so why is Emperor Zhu still smiling and looking very happy?
Left with no other choice, Li Shanchang could only patiently continue reading.
But this one look was all it took for Li Shanchang to almost start cursing in front of Emperor Zhu Chongba.
That guy surnamed Yang is a despicable person!
What the hell is this "the ruler cannot personally handle all the duties of the world" nonsense? The point of this dog's long speech is that "one should not do everything personally, but should delegate responsibilities to his ministers." In other words, it's advising the emperor to delegate all the work to his ministers, and if they mess it up, to hold the ministers accountable and take the blame!
And then there's this saying, "He who does not plan for the long term is not fit to plan for the short term; he who does not plan for the whole is not fit to plan for a part." This is practically a direct insult to all the officials, big and small, in the court: You all have high positions, fine horses, and beautiful wives and concubines, yet you don't know how to consider the long-term stability of the Ming Dynasty. You only know how to deal with whatever problems arise. You're all useless cowards who hold positions without doing any work!
Now, I, in a moment of kindness, will give you useless fools some pointers—first, create a long-term plan spanning a century, outlining the goals to be achieved within that century, and then break this century-long plan down into twenty five-year plans, outlining the goals to be achieved in each five-year period.
Then, the responsibility is assigned to a specific official, whoever does a good job will be rewarded, and those who do not do a good job will be held accountable.
Li Shanchang's face was ashen. He silently passed the memorial he had read to Liu Bowen. He glanced at Emperor Zhu Chongba and hesitated several times before finally letting out a helpless sigh.
No, is that guy surnamed Yang crazy?
I'm perfectly fine, I didn't provoke him or anything, so why is he provoking me?
Just as Li Shanchang was questioning his life, Liu Bowen had already opened the memorial and started reading it.
Then, Liu Bowen began to doubt his life. He didn’t seem to have written any memorials recently, nor had he gotten involved in the mess in Ningyang County. He had no grudges or enemies with that guy surnamed Yang. Why did this bastard suddenly start messing with him?
On the contrary, Hu Weiyong laughed twice after reading the memorial and said, "This kid is interesting, very interesting. It's a waste to put such a talent in Ningyang County.
Yang Xian glanced at Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen, whose expressions varied, and then at Hu Weiyong, who was laughing heartily. In the end, he still took the memorial with suspicion and began to read it.
After Yang Xian finished reading the memorial and returned it, Emperor Zhu Chongba couldn't help but look at it again. Then, he smiled and said to Li Shanchang, "Brother Shanchang, what do you think?"
Li Shanchang thought to himself, "I want to see with my eyes, but I don't want to see. Right now, I just want some peace and quiet."
However, Li Shanchang was afraid that Zhu Chongba would ask him who Jingjing was, so he had no choice but to honestly bow and answer: "Your Majesty, I believe that this memorial requesting the implementation of the five-year plan is a magnificent document for governing the country and a good solution for saving the world. I am far inferior to it."
Emperor Zhu then turned his gaze to Liu Bowen and asked, "Where is Master Qingtian?"
Liu Bowen smiled, cupped his hands to Emperor Zhu, and said, "Your Majesty has already made a decision, and I will naturally follow it without question."
Emperor Zhu suddenly felt bored and turned his gaze to Hu Weiyong: "Zizhong, it's not that we don't want to transfer him to the capital to serve as an official, but Ningyang County has only recently been upgraded to be directly under the Central Secretariat. Many strategies need to be tested in Ningyang County before being implemented throughout the country. If he is not in Ningyang County, who do you think would be suitable to transfer there?"
Hu Weiyong opened his mouth, but in the end he could only bow and say, "It was my oversight."
Emperor Zhu then turned his gaze to Yang Xian and asked, "What about Xi Wu? What do you think?"
Yang Xian cupped his hands and replied, "Your Majesty, I believe that what Magistrate Yang said does have some merit, but it also contains some exaggeration. It cannot be judged in general."
"For example, he said he wanted to formulate a long-term plan that would last for a hundred years. I can't help but ask, what kind of effect does his so-called hundred-year plan aim to achieve? Is it to expand the territory of the court? Or is it to ensure that all the people have surplus grain in their homes?"
"Even a five-year plan and audit has many shortcomings—times change and things change. Today, our Great Ming Dynasty has over a thousand counties and tens of millions of people. Many things are interconnected and have far-reaching consequences. How can it be compared to the small territory of Ningyang County?"
"Putting aside other things, let's take Ningyang County for example. If it makes a plan to ensure that all the people have a thousand taels of silver and a hundred taels of cash within five years, what if they encounter a severe drought or flood in the fourth year?"
At this point, Yang Xian simply stood up and respectfully bowed to Emperor Zhu, saying, "Your Majesty, I humbly request that you reconsider."
Emperor Zhu Chongba's expression gradually turned cold.
Emperor Zhu's words, while not entirely unreasonable, were nothing more than sophistry—why not formulate a five-year plan if you're worried about a severe drought or flood in the fourth year? Then why not consider how to deal with drought or flood when formulating the plan?
Or, does Ningyang County need to worry about drought now?
Of course they are needed. If a once-in-a-millennium drought were to occur, the four artificial lakes that Ningyang County has would be practically useless. If the people cannot survive by relying on their stored grain, their only way out would be to flee and beg for food.
However, Ningyang County has no need to worry about ordinary droughts or severe droughts that occur once every ten years, because there are four artificial lakes and several deep wells inside and outside the city. The people have surplus grain and are not short of food and drink, so there is no need for them to flee the famine!
This is all thanks to our old Zhu's son-in-law who had four artificial lakes dug out!
Isn't this a manifestation of a century-long plan or a five-year plan?
Now you, Yang Xian, are actually saying that the Centennial Plan and the Five-Year Plan are exaggerated and unacceptable?
That's your mother!
Seeing that Emperor Zhu Chongba's face was getting darker and darker, Li Shanchang quickly cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I do have some thoughts on this long-term plan that will last for a hundred years."