met free Chapter 123 Abolishing the Ban on Hu Customs
Chapter 123 Abolishing the Ban on Hu Customs
After receiving the work report from Magistrate Yang Shaofeng, Wu Zude, the Prefect of Yanzhou, fell into deep self-doubt.
Or rather, Wu Zude wasn't doubting himself, but rather doubting that his ancestors hadn't accumulated much good karma.
If Guang were alive, how could he have made him the prefect of Yanzhou, and why would he have let him run into a guy like Yang Shaofeng?
Damn it, in the four prefectures and twenty-three counties under the jurisdiction of Yanzhou Prefecture, which county magistrate is as troublesome as Yang Dianfeng?
Behind the backs of the prefecture and the province, they secretly divided up land; behind the backs of the prefecture and the province, they set up breeding farms and livestock farms without authorization; behind the backs of the prefecture and the province, they conscripted laborers to dig lakes and ditches. One of these things, one after another, did they even respect me, Prefect Wu?
But when he thought of the fate of Zhao Liang, the magistrate of Wenshang County, and the cartloads of goods that His Highness the Crown Prince had ordered to be sent to Ningyang County, Wu Zude felt that Magistrate Yang was doing quite well. At least Yang the Madman hadn't come to torment him, the prefect.
If I can't afford to offend them, I can at least avoid them, right?
But things changed starting today. Yang Dianfeng had the official document delivered directly to the Yanzhou Prefectural Government Office. As the Prefect, he absolutely could not ignore it.
The problem was getting Wu Zude to sign the official document sent by Yang Shaofeng and then send it to the Shandong Provincial Councilor's Office. Wu Zude felt a little uneasy.
"Please abolish the barbarian customs"—these four words are simple to say, and even in the imperial court, they are absolutely correct. No one can find fault with them. After all, the current Emperor Zhu Chongba rose to power under the banner of "expelling the barbarians and restoring China."
However, the phrase "please abolish the Hu customs" means banning many messy folk customs, cutting off many messy folk sacrifices, and even affecting the living habits of many people.
If any of these rules offend the common people, and they cause a commotion, how can this prefect possibly have a good ending?
Therefore, Prefect Wu really wanted to grab Yang Shaofeng by the collar and question him a few times.
This is something a mere seventh-rank county magistrate like Yang Dianfeng could possibly mention?
Yes, you, Yang Dianfeng, dare to bring it up, and it won't matter to you. You have Chang Pingzhang, Xu Xiang, and His Highness the Crown Prince protecting you. But this is a matter that a mere prefect like myself can get involved in.
It’s his mother’s fault!
Take, for example, the private distribution of land and the unauthorized conscription of militia. If these things happened to me, I would have been beheaded twice!
Wang Guangyang, the Vice Minister of the Shandong Provincial Government, shared the same idea as Wu Zude.
In fact, Wang Guangyang's background was not simple. He had already joined the service of Emperor Zhu Chongba when he was young. He was successively appointed as a clerk in the Marshal's Office and a supervisor in Jiangnan Province. He was ordered to participate in Chang Yuchun's military affairs and was praised for "handling important matters and offering loyal advice repeatedly". He was compared to Zhang Liang and Zhuge Liang.
But it was all for naught. No matter what, Wang Guangyang wouldn't dare to act recklessly like Yang Shaofeng, because Wang Guangyang was a proper scholar from Jiangnan, not a great Confucian scholar from Shandong, and had no value as a scapegoat.
Or rather, before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Guangyang still had some value as a horse, but with the complete pacification of Jiangnan and the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the last bit of value that Wang Guangyang had left as a horse disappeared.
Moreover, as the Vice Chancellor of the Shandong Provincial Secretariat, Wang Guangyang knew far more than Wu Zude, the Prefect of Yanzhou.
The information that Emperor Zhu Chongba (Zhu Chongba) had visited Ningyang County incognito, and that Emperor Zhu Chongba and Vice Emperor Zhu Biao had repeatedly praised Yang Shaofeng (that scoundrel) in private, was not a secret to Wang Guangyang.
It was precisely for this reason that Wang Guangyang completely ignored the trivial matters of Ningyang County, and even rarely inquired about the affairs of Yanzhou Prefecture.
But to everyone's surprise, Wang Guangyang hid quite far away, but that crazy Yang, who had no martial ethics, actually stuck to him like a dog skin plaster, and the first thing he did was to bring up the big issue of "requesting the abolition of the barbarian customs"!
"Tell me, should I add my name to this official document?"
Wang Guangyang waved the official document sent by Yang Shaofeng in his hand, and said to Xu Huaiwen, the councilor of the Shandong Provincial Secretariat, with a helpless expression: "If I attach my name, I will offend more than one or two people. If I don't attach my name, I will offend more than one or two people."
Councilor Xu Huaiwen also looked worried.
If a document like this, sent by Magistrate Yang Shaofeng, were to be signed, it wouldn't just be Wang Guangyang who would be listed; even I, as a councilor, would have to sign it.
So here's the question: Wang Guangyang was unwilling to add his name, but I, as a councilor, was willing to do so?
It should be understood that Wang Guangyang's suggestion to attach his name would offend not only the gentry and common people throughout the north who had already accepted the customs of the Hu people, but also a large number of county magistrates like Yang Shaofeng.
However, by not attaching his name, he would offend Yang Shaofeng, as well as the Chancellor Chang Yuchun, the Right Chancellor Xu Da, the Crown Prince Zhu Biao, and the Emperor Zhu Chongba.
Offending Zhu Chongba (Emperor Zhu) would certainly bring immediate misfortune, but offending the gentry and officials in the north, if these people secretly cause trouble, would most likely bring misfortune upon oneself as well, it's just a matter of time.
As for withholding Yang Dianfeng's official documents and not sending them to the Ministry of Justice... what if Yang Dianfeng has already sent them to the Ministry of Justice first?
This hothead has done this kind of thing before!
Xu Huaiwen felt increasingly distressed as he thought about it. After struggling for a long time, he finally nodded slightly and said, "Let's submit. We are paid by the emperor, so we should share his burdens. In any case, it's the same whether we submit sooner or later. Rather than offending those we shouldn't offend, it's better to offend those we can. It's better than pleasing neither side."
Wang Guangyang sighed helplessly and said, "Let's all sign. Once we've all signed, the higher-ups will have a headache."
After adding his name to Yang Shaofeng's official document, Wang Guangyang sighed softly and muttered, "Banning the surname Hu? The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun have not yet been fully restored, how dare he?"
……
Contrary to Wang Guangyang's expectations, Emperor Zhu Chongba did not feel a headache after receiving the memorial submitted by Yang Shaofeng through the Office of Transmission; instead, he smiled broadly.
Hu customs?
That thing should have been scrapped a long time ago!
The surname Hu?
If the surname Hu is banned, many Han Chinese in the north will still use it. Can they still consider themselves Han Chinese?
Since they no longer consider themselves Han Chinese, how can they still consider themselves citizens of the Ming Dynasty?
Ban it! It must be banned!
And this levirate marriage, what kind of messed-up rubbish is this? If we don't ban this barbaric custom, how are we any different from beasts?
Then, Emperor Zhu Chongba sent people to summon Li Shanchang, Hu Weiyong, Liu Bowen, Yang Xian and others to discuss abolishing the Hu customs.