“Young people nowadays” was the key phrase, instantly drawing the old farmers to Emperor Zhu’s side. The living conditions of the Great Ming populace had improved significantly compared to the Qianlong era. As the people’s lives got better, naturally, sentiments like “young people nowadays can’t endure hardship” emerged.
This was especially true for these old farmers who had been invited.
Back in the Qianlong era, what did they eat? What did they drink? What did they wear? What did they use?
Eating was definitely not enough. Except for the local gentry and wealthy merchants who could eat their fill every day, ordinary commoners, let alone eating their fill daily, even avoiding starvation was a luxury!
Drinking was even less to be said. During the Great Qing era, officials and local gentry would not spend money or effort to help ordinary people dig wells for water. Even those living by the river could only guarantee drinking water when there was no drought. Once drought or flood occurred, even getting water to drink became difficult!
As for wearing and using…
These two points were really not worth mentioning. After all, wearing and using belonged to the second level in that so-called hierarchy of needs theory. Ordinary people of the Great Qing era could barely meet the most basic survival needs of the first level, so they naturally had no mind to pay attention to higher-level needs.
To put it bluntly, the Great Qing was similar to the so-called “Golden Decade” during the time of a certain bald principal. The wealthy and powerful local gentry and rich merchants lived in revelry and feasting, whitewashing the peace, while the ordinary people who couldn’t even get enough to eat naturally became the so-called epitome of the era.
Whose family didn’t have young people nowadays? Don’t all elders look at their own children, thinking they are not as capable of enduring hardship as other people’s children?
“Thought they could soar to the heavens by clinging to Master Hu and Master Zhang, but they can’t escape the fate of being dogs after all.”
“People are just cheap. Instead of being decent humans, they insist on being dogs. How much dog food have they eaten? And how delicious is that dog food?”
Continuously being provoked, and with the provocations growing louder and the words becoming dirtier, Chairman Chen’s face gradually lost its composure.
“Moreover, do you think our village is the only one involved in today’s matter? Let me tell you, our village is nothing in the entire plan of Master Hu and Master Zhang! Their plan encompasses the entire Great Ming! The entire Great Ming, understand? Countless villages, townships, and even counties and prefectures will be mobilized simultaneously!”
“Our village just got lucky and happened to be chosen as a stopping point. Do you still think our village is indispensable?”
Chairman Chen’s words directly stunned the members of the farmer’s association guard. After all, what Masters Zhang and Hu had done were crimes punishable by death. For ordinary people, they would have likely been scared to urinate themselves. But Masters Zhang and Hu dared to hold a grand banquet to celebrate now. If anyone said they didn’t have support behind them, or that they didn’t have a guaranteed victory, who would believe it? xxs壹贰
Chairman Chen continued, “Think carefully. From Xia, Shang, Zhou to Qin, Han, and even now, in the thousands of years of the Central Plains dynasties, which emperor did not rule by relying on the local gentry? The emperors of Xia, Shang, and Zhou did, the emperors of Qin and Han did, and even the emperor of the Great Qing did. Why can Emperor Zhu not rely on the local gentry?”
Chairman Chen then made a concluding remark: “If Master Zhang and Master Hu succeed, we might gain some benefits. But if they fail, we will also suffer the consequences!”
The remarks of Inuukai Bunmon and Yajima Nishiking directly broke through the defenses of Kōkaku Kenjin and Tokugawa Ienari.
Grumbling, Kōkaku Kenjin said to Kōmiya Kenjin, “I don’t want to hear Inuukai Bunmon and Yajima Nishiking spewing their nonsense anymore!”
Being told this by Kōmiya Kenjin, Kōkaku Kenjin couldn’t help but feel disheartened.
As for publicly naming Inuukai Bunmon and Yajima Nishiking as spokesmen in the newspapers founded by the Wa Imperial Court and the Shogunate…
Under such circumstances, Inuukai Bunmon and Yajima Nishiking became rather difficult to deal with.
After a period of silence between father and son, Kōkaku Kenjin finally spoke, “Is there any news from the Shogunate?”
Kōkaku Kenjin was slightly taken aback and asked, “Can’t anyone see through the deceptions of Inuukai Bunmon and Yajima Nishiking?”
When Kōkaku Kenjin asked this, Kōmiya Kenjin didn’t know how to answer.
In Wa, not knowing Chinese characters or not being able to speak fluent Mandarin of the Great Ming would be collectively mocked by all nobles, daimyo, and lords.
In other words, lords and daimyo were considered elites in Wa. How could they possibly not see through the deceptions of Inuukai Bunmon and Yajima Nishiking?
However, the reality was that they too were intimidated by Inuukai Bunmon and Yajima Nishiking.
“With the name of the Emperor of the Great Ming in front, no one in Wa, from top to bottom, believes Inuukai Bunmon is wrong. Naturally, they wouldn’t doubt the truth or falsity of anything else he says.”
“The situation with Yajima Nishiking is similar. On the surface, they are both completely considering the interests of Wa and the common people of Wa. Many lords and daimyo have been fooled by these two.”
Kōkaku Kenjin was dumbfounded, even disbelieving what he heard.
This actually works?
But what does Wa have?
Given Wa’s poverty, how can it enable commoners and outcasts to feed their children eggs and duck eggs? Do they have air?
The rural doctor program is the same. Wa has few scholars, and their medical skills are inherited like witchcraft. And they want to implement a rural doctor program?
Go to hell!
The more he thought about it, the angrier Kōkaku Kenjin became, so he simply snorted, “Send someone to tell those lords and daimyo who are loyal to the court, and tell them that all difficulties are temporary. As long as the threat of the Shogunate is resolved, our Wa will one day be like the Great Ming, where all children can eat eggs and duck eggs, and every village will have a doctor.”
…
While Kōkaku Kenjin and Kōmiya Kenjin were troubled by Inuukai Bunmon and Yajima Nishiking, Tokugawa Ienari and everyone in the Shogunate were also troubled by Inuukai Bunmon and Yajima Nishiking.
And just like the problems that troubled Kōkaku Kenjin, Tokugawa Ienari also knew very well that Inuukai Bunmon and Yajima Nishiking were spokesmen pushed by Great Ming merchants. He also couldn’t find a way to deal with them. After all, calling Inuukai Bunmon and Yajima Nishiking spokesmen was a polite term; to put it crudely, they were dogs.
As the saying goes, when you hit a dog, you have to consider its owner—Tokugawa Ienari had a thousand and one ways to kill Inuukai Bunmon and Yajima Nishiking, but he had absolutely no way to deal with the Great Ming merchants behind them.
Or it could be said: Inuukai Bunmon and Yajima Nishiking were dogs in front of Great Ming merchants, and were those Great Ming merchants not fattened pigs raised by the Great Ming court?
If you hit a dog, you consider its owner; do you not consider the owner when you kill a pig?
Don’t be silly, killing a pig is a greater sin!
Tokugawa Ienari knew very well that if he dared to lay a hand on those Great Ming merchants today, the Great Ming forces stationed in Wa would overturn the entire Shogunate tomorrow to avenge those “pigs.”
At that time, perhaps his head and Kōkaku Kenjin’s foolish heads would be displayed on a mound of heads to dry in the wind.
The mere thought of the terrifying existence of a mound of heads made Tokugawa Ienari sigh, “Ambassador Chen, Ambassador Chen, you have given me a great problem!”
Of course, Chen Yan, the Great Ming ambassador to Wa, was currently embracing a Wa geisha and was not at the Shogunate, so Tokugawa Ienari was merely venting his resentment to Watanabe Uemon and Matsushita Ichiban.
Watanabe Uemon, Matsushita Ichiban, and other envoys to the Ming had grim expressions. They simply couldn’t understand why the Great Ming Emperor could do whatever he wanted and achieve whatever he wanted, while the Shogunate was constantly constrained?
To get the lords and daimyo to cooperate with the Shogunate to contain leprosy, one lord and daimyo after another feigned ignorance or deafness, only agreeing to cooperate after Tokugawa Ienari, the dignified Shogun, offered conditions.
Just as they were about to contain leprosy with the cooperation of the lords and daimyo, Inuukai Bunmon and Yajima Nishiking appeared again!
Thinking of the countless difficulties they would face next, Watanabe Uemon couldn’t help but exchange a glance with Matsushita Ichiban, then bowed to Tokugawa Ienari, saying, “Your Excellency, Wa is now subject to constraints everywhere, and the Shogunate is also subject to the constraints of those lords and daimyo. It is time for a change!”
When he heard the words “the Shogunate is subject to the constraints of those lords and daimyo,” Tokugawa Ienari was furious. However, upon hearing the words “it is time for a change,” his anger completely dissipated.
As the saying goes, one’s position dictates one’s perspective.
If Tokugawa Ienari merely wanted to be the Shogun, then Watanabe Uemon’s words would have been highly taboo—the Shogunate being subject to the lords and daimyo, wasn't that saying the Shogunate was incompetent? Wasn't this indirectly saying I, Tokugawa Ienari, the Shogun, was incompetent?
But Tokugawa Ienari was no longer content with merely being the Shogun; his gaze had already shifted to the throne of the King of Wa.
For Tokugawa Ienari, who wanted and felt he was about to become the King of Wa, Watanabe Uemon’s words were worth contemplating.
Could the Great Ming Emperor command and achieve anything, and restore or destroy lineages, and I, Tokugawa Ienari, did not want to truly control Wa and become the sole ruler, the master of Wa, second only to heaven?
With this thought, Tokugawa Ienari asked in a deep voice, “Watanabe-kun, what do you mean by that?”
Upon hearing the words “Watanabe-kun,” Watanabe Uemon’s somewhat apprehensive mood immediately stabilized.
The gamble had paid off!
After all, Watanabe Uemon was an envoy to the Ming who had studied in the Great Ming. He naturally knew that his words were taboo. But the fundamental reason Watanabe Uemon said such taboo words was that he was gambling, gambling that Tokugawa Ienari wanted to become the true ruler of Wa!
Suppressing his excitement, Watanabe Uemon bowed and replied, “Your Excellency is also well-read. Therefore, Your Excellency must know the history of the Central Plains dynasties.”
Therefore, a large crowd of onlookers also gathered outside the Yongcheng County yamen, even more lively than a court trial scene in a Great Qing drama.
If this continued, the common people of the Great Ming would no longer fear officials. They would even wish to come to the county yamen to watch the excitement.
The common people especially liked to see officials interrogate those corrupt gentry.
This made the onlookers very curious.
What an eye-opener!
And Zhu Jinsong did not disappoint these common people.
This was nothing like what was written in the opera!
Gao Dajin quickly prostrated himself and said, “Your Majesty, have mercy, your humble subject is truly wronged!”
Gao Dajin prostrated himself even lower.
After finishing reading, Ke Zhiming sealed the letter again and sent it back to the desk in front of Zhu Jinsong.
Zhu Jinsong said, “Come on, explain to me what this letter is all about?”
As Xu Yaozong began to act, the onlookers outside the main hall also became excited, shouting, “Beat him to death! Beat him to death!”
But who would have thought that there was such a profound layout behind it?
Seeing that trouble was about to break out, Zhu Jinsong immediately slammed the gavel and shouted, “Silence!”
Taking advantage of the common people’s daze, Zhu Jinsong loudly declared, “I am here, and I will still let these clowns have an easy time?”
The common people then realized that the person sitting in the hall was the current Emperor.
The fool Zhu Jinsong was referring to was Xu Yaozong, who was currently beating Gao Dajin.
But as he laughed, Gao Dajin suddenly couldn’t laugh anymore because Zhu Jinsong was still staring at him expressionlessly.
A pearl covered in dust?
What was Gao Dajin worth?
Zhu Jinsong shook his head and asked the Censorate official standing in the hall, “According to the law, what crime should Gao Dajin be punished with?”
As Zhu Jinsong’s words fell, the common people gathered in the hall below cheered happily, shouting, “Well done!”
“The villain Gao deserves to be executed!”
“Serves him right!”
But as they shouted, the slogans gradually turned into a unified chant of “Long live the Emperor!”
And Zhu Jinsong wrote an article and sent it back to the capital by express horse.
“Increasing wages to guide workers to work longer hours, what secrets are hidden behind this?”
Therefore, rather than calling Gao Dajin a bad seed, it was more accurate to say that he was both stupid and wicked.
…
After finally leaving Yongcheng County, Zhu Jinsong continued his journey south of the Yangtze River.
Zhu Jinsong shook his head and asked the Censorate official standing in the hall, “According to the law, what crime should Gao Dajin be punished with?”
As Zhu Jinsong’s words fell, the common people gathered in the hall below cheered happily, shouting, “Well done!”
“The villain Gao deserves to be executed!”
“Serves him right!”
But as they shouted, the slogans gradually turned into a unified chant of “Long live the Emperor!”
And Zhu Jinsong wrote an article and sent it back to the capital by express horse.
Therefore, rather than calling Gao Dajin a bad seed, it was more accurate to say that he was both stupid and wicked.