Chapter 332

That such a large-scale "action" could only now be exposed.

It must have been planned for a long time and kept under strict information lockdown to achieve this.

It is normal for Liu Rushi not to know.

The little eunuch, anxious beside him, said, "Mr. Su, Your Majesty and several Grand Councilors are waiting. Should we enter the palace first? Do not keep Your Majesty waiting too long."

"Very well, then let us enter the palace."

Su Qiao did not change his clothes; he was directly shoved by the eunuch into the carriage, which then raced wildly toward the imperial palace.

With the master gone, Liu Rushi had no interest in continuing to play the zither.

She returned directly to the guest room with her maid, Qing'er.

"Young Lady, what exactly is the identity of that Young Master Su? Why does Your Majesty summon him to discuss major affairs, and I hear even those ministers must wait for him?"

The little maid, Qing'er, asked curiously while attending to Liu Rushi's bath and changing her clothes.

Liu Rushi sat in the wooden tub, her beautiful eyes shimmering with light.

"I do not know either, but within Yi Hong Lou, when this Young Master Su confronted Qian Qianyi, I could already sense that this Young Master Su was no ordinary person. I did not expect him to possess such ability now."

Originally, before coming to the capital, Liu Rushi had some thoughts about Chen Zilong.

She planned to return to Jin Ling and send a formal letter of introduction to make the acquaintance of Chen Zilong.

But!

The sudden appearance of Su Qiao, along with Qian Qianyi's hasty flight, caused Liu Rushi to suddenly awaken.

She developed a bit more scrutiny toward some of the boastful scholars in Jin Ling.

Her admiration for Chen Zilong also dissipated greatly all at once.

It was replaced by curiosity about Su Qiao.

Su Qiao did not yet know that Liu Rushi at home was thinking of him.

After entering the palace, he saw that Grand Councilors such as Du Du Yinxi and Sun Chuanting were all present.

Zhu Youjian was even seated on the dragon throne, his expression inexplicable.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty!"

"Su Qing, you must have heard the news. This time, the Jiangnan scholars are rebelling and coming to the capital to petition the throne directly. What is your view? Is there a solution?"

Su Qiao had thought of many things before coming, so he brought them out to speak.

"First, regarding the seventy or eighty thousand scholars from Jiangnan moving north this time, Your Majesty and the senior elders need not worry."

Su Qiao said with a calm expression.

The assembly of ministers showed displeasure; if Zhu Youjian had not been sitting there, someone would have refuted him long ago.

Zhu Youjian, upon hearing Su Qiao's words, also felt something was not quite right.

"Su Qing, this is seventy or eighty thousand people entering the capital. Adding the northern scholars they are dragging along on the road, there must be at least one hundred thousand! If so many people enter and truly cause chaos, will it not be too late?"

Su Qiao heard the worry in Zhu Youjian's tone.

He knew that without explanation, not only Zhu Youjian but also the several Grand Councilors would be dissatisfied.

So he smiled and said, "Your Majesty, senior elders, they all say that scholar rebellions take ten years to succeed! There is actually some truth to that."

"Indeed, their numbers are large. If so many people suddenly rebel on a large scale moving north, it is impossible that there is no strict organizer."

"But Your Majesty must not forget, they are scholars with no strength to bind a chicken. They cannot ride horses to kill enemies, nor can they bend down to farm and support their families. How long can they keep up this turmoil?"

"I fear that at that time, Your Majesty only needs to dispatch one or two thousand Imperial Guards to scare them all into submission!"

Su Qiao's words sounded rather arrogant.

Yet, after Zhu Youjian and the several Grand Councilors pondered it slightly, they felt there was logic in it.

"Mr. Su, I have a question." Sun Chuanting suddenly said to Su Qiao.

"Grand Councilor Sun, please speak."

"Even if, as Mr. Su says, most of these scholars moving north pose no threat, what is the purpose of those secretly connecting them?"

"The purpose is easy to guess. I believe their purpose is for positions!"

"Positions?"

"Yes!" Su Qiao smiled slightly. "The court is now quite clean. Those so-called Donglin Party, eunuch faction, and others have all been purged. Their positions are gone. Are they willing to accept that?"

"They could still have influence in the court before, but now it suddenly vanished; they certainly cannot accept it!"

Du Du Yinxi clenched his right fist and struck his palm, saying.

"Exactly, so they deliberately spread rumors and incited the scholars to move north. They still think it is like the time in the past when hundreds of officials forced the throne."

As he spoke these words, a cold sneer appeared on Su Qiao's face.

Zhu Youjian also seemed to recall when his elder brother was on the throne and he, having just ascended, was marginalized and constrained by the hundreds of officials.

His face immediately turned iron-green!

"Traitorous rebels!"

"Su Qing, how should the formation of cliques and societies be prevented?"

Zhu Youjian pressed Su Qiao for an answer.

"Your Majesty, previously I said that not everyone in the world should study books; otherwise, how many people would be left to farm? Therefore, Your Majesty should reform the imperial examination system!"

"How to reform it?"

This was not the first time Su Qiao raised this matter.

Previously, Zhu Youjian and the several Grand Councilors could still make excuses.

But now, with this "rebellion" of the scholars, everyone has awakened; we cannot continue like this.

Political factions and cliques are detrimental to Great Ming!

Too many scholars is not good either!

"Your Majesty can open up paths for the common people: whoever is best at farming can become the top scholar of agriculture; whoever excels in ingenious but useless crafts and can invent things most useful to the Great Ming can become the top scholar of engineering; whoever is most skilled in martial arts can become the top scholar of martial arts; whoever is best at making money can become the top scholar of economics..."

188, a woman disguised as a man!

"In this way, those with talent for farming will farm; those capable of inventing crafts and skills will invent things; those who know how to fight will go to war and kill enemies. How could the entire world still be forced to enter the schools?"

Su Qiao finished speaking and stood there calmly.

Zhu Youjian and the cabinet ministers exchanged glances, shock evident in their eyes.

They dared not speak first.

Is this method good or not?

They all thought it was a good method.

But who dares to propose it first?

Only Su Qiao would be so bold; if it were them, they would probably be criticized to death.

Bang!

Zhu Youjian was a man of courage, but he had been oppressed too severely by those ministers before.

The spirit within him seemed to have been worn away.

Nevertheless, he was far superior to his elder brother Zhu Youxiao.

After his expression changed for a long time, Zhu Youjian slammed the table and said in a deep voice, "Are you confident? You must know that while it is simple for me to issue an edict, it is difficult to suppress the voices of the entire world."

The corners of Su Qiao's mouth curved.

"Your Majesty, they claim to represent the entire world, but they can only represent themselves! The Earth would revolve without anyone; if the scholars were gone, would the common people of the Great Ming starve to death?"

"No, so they are not the most important voice!"

Su Qiao declared with absolute certainty.

But Du Du Yinxi and the others looked confused. "That 'Earth revolves'—what does that mean? What Earth?"

Su Qiao slapped his forehead.

Oh dear, I slipped up and said it naturally!

597 "It is like this: the world we inhabit is actually a sphere; the alternation of day and night is due to its rotation, not some claim that the sky is round and the earth is square."

Su Qiao explained it roughly.

Fortunately, everyone present had good comprehension and could roughly understand Su Qiao's meaning.

"Your Majesty, Mr. Su makes sense. The Great Ming itself has been reciting scriptures poorly, with constant natural disasters, and the number of scholars taking the imperial examinations grows year by year. If this continues, the situation of the Great Ming will surely worsen. Why not just try it?"

Sun Chuanting was a rather decisive man.

After weighing the pros and cons in his heart, he clasped his hands and spoke.

"Agreed! Since Grand Councilor Sun and Su Qing both approve, I cannot drag my feet either. This matter is settled!"