"Although I need the literati and officials to be obedient, it is not that I really want them to be silenced, because I just don't let them talk nonsense. Their knowledge must serve the long-term stability and prosperity of the empire, rather than the selfish desires of individuals and the interests of certain groups;

Although the Ming Dynasty was the emperor who was arbitrary, it did not mean that civil affairs would not be prosperous. I am the emperor, and I have both martial arts and civil governance!"

Zhu Youxiao said, and hurriedly asked, "I asked Chongwen Temple to select ten annual private works that can be praised and made contributions to the achievements of words? Let them be as soon as possible! I don't believe that the literati and doctors in the Ming Dynasty usually love to write so much. In the end, there is no even a half-word poem that can be remembered and praised in the future! As long as there is, I will not give in without any rewards and no no-no-officials!"

Zhu Youxiao continued to express his purpose of controlling the world's affairs.

From the beginning, he had no intention of confining his thoughts like the Qing Dynasty.

Zhu Youxiao's plan was to let the literati follow his arrangements to achieve the goal of controlling the cultural context and promoting the prosperity of cultural undertakings. However, since it was to govern the cultural undertakings, he did not choose to fight directly. Instead, he used the literary battle to activate a group of obedient imperial literati by screening excellent books, rewarding them with wealth and reusing them with official titles, and finally wining over a group of literati with a consistent position, and letting the literati make their own choices. If you want to live a prosperous life, make words, have more fame, higher status and greater power, you have to obey the will of the emperor.

Otherwise, you will farm honestly and live a poor life, and the articles you write can only be used to burn fire in the end.

After all, the power, technology and capital of printing and publishing are controlled by the emperor.

"Chongwen Temple is being selected, but there are too many people who have made a speech in the Ming Dynasty, and it is very difficult to choose the best ten books!"

Fang Congzhe replied, he had to admit that His Majesty the Emperor had a very vicious idea, and it was a conspiracy that made the literati unable to confront them.

What scholars and officials care about the most is to make contributions, make words, and establish virtue. One of the three is enough to be remembered forever.

And here, making meritorious and moral integrity is the most difficult, and making words is the easiest for literati.

Therefore, literati want the books they write to be recognized and recognized, and even with the help of the court, they are famous for generations.

What Fang Congzhe did not tell Zhu Youxiao was that because Chongwen Temple wanted to select books to reward his words, the literati who bribed his son from high-ranking officials to great folk scholars had almost broken through the threshold of his family.

A few days later, Zhu Youxiao obtained the list of excellent works handed over by Fang Congzhe to Chongwen Temple to screen and recommend.

The entire list contains one hundred privately written books and articles, and Emperor Zhu Youxiao needed to select ten of them for promotion.

Because Zhu Youxiao had promotion requirements, the content of the book and articles was not limited to Confucian Neo-Confucianism.

"The Geometric Originals translated by Xu Aiqing and others must be selected, and Xu Aiqing's "Complete Book of Agricultural Affairs" is also selected. Xu Aiqin's works are quite rich!

In addition, in terms of legendary stories, Feng Menglong’s “Laughter of Ancient and Modern Times” was selected, and in terms of personal collections, Ling Mengchu’s “Dongpo Zen Collection”, Yuan Zhongdao’s “Record of the Persimmons in the Journey”, and Chen Jiru’s “Little West Cloth Record”.

At this time, Zhu Youxiao personally screened ten books that were relatively famous in the history of literature and whose author is still alive.

In addition, Zhu Youxiao also asked Chongwen Temple to select ten books that require funding to be allocated to expand the printing volume and recommend reading by scholars and people all over the world to promote the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty culture.

Among these books, Zhu Youxiao’s first choice was "The Great Edict".

However, Zhu Youxiao chose this purely to disgust the world's veterinary class, because the purpose of Zhu Yuanzhang compiled this book was to limit the powerful and noble gentry to act recklessly and let the common people fight for their own rights.

In addition, there are the "Da Ming Law" and the "The Hadith of the Imperial Ming" compiled by Zhu Youxiao himself.

The "Halloween of the Imperial Ming" was compiled by Zhu Youxiao and Hanlin Academy to educate officials all over the world so that these officials can learn and know their intentions to rule.

Of course, in addition to these official books, Zhu Youxiao also selected works such as "Journey to the West", "Golden 0 Bottles 0 Plum Ci Talk", "The West Chamber", and "The West Chamber", as well as natural science works such as "Kunyu Wanguo Map". In Zhu Youxiao's view, these are more or less enlightening people's hearts, promoting the development of the Ming Dynasty's cultural undertakings, and enhancing the cultural dominance of the Ming Empire.

Yuan Zhongdao, Li Zhizao, Xu Guangqi, and Yang Tingyun were all given a generous reward of 10,000 taels of silver coins by Zhu Youxiao because his works were selected.

In addition, these people were all awarded the title of officials of the Hanlin Academy.

Yuan Zhongdao, who was originally an official, was directly given the title of the bachelor's degree in the Hanlin Academy, and Xu Guangqi, who was originally an official and had a good position, was given the Young Master, while Feng Menglong, who had not won the imperial examination, was awarded the official positions of the Hanlin Academy to be reviewed.

Zhu Youxiao also summoned these people in the Qianqing Palace and stated that the court would allocate special funds to vigorously print and disseminate his works.

The literati such as Yuan Zhongdao were naturally very grateful and even more surprised. After all, Zhu Youxiao’s image in the eyes of many civil servants and literati is a tyrant.

However, now the literati such as Yuan Zhongdao have to change their views on the current priests.

However, Zhu Youxiao's way of holding the right to judge cultural works in his own hands still made many literati and doctors feel dissatisfied.

Especially those who were not selected.

"How could the court choose books like this? The legend of the story is just for the common people. It is difficult to enter the elegant hall, and it can be presented to the shelves in a noble way? And the "Complete Book of Agricultural Affairs" and "The Original Geometry" are just miscellaneous studies, and it must be because Xu Guangqi, a treacherous minister, controls the court's principles!"

"That's right, the books that explain the Four Books and Five Classics have not been selected many times, which is simply a mess!"

"Miscellaneous books such as "Journey to the West" and "The West Chamber" are also considered to be the work of great Ming Dynasty literature? It is really hilarious! When will my Confucian orthodox learning be worse than these miscellaneous books in this representative culture?"

"There is also this "Golden 0 Bottles 0 Plum Ci Talk", which is fine if literati circulated internally, how can it be recommended to the world? Isn't this intention to promote the ugliness of the world, especially the powerful family!"

Many civil officials and officials of the Ming Dynasty opposed this and discussed it a lot. Some civil officials even submitted memorials to resist miscellaneous studies and demanded that the court respect Neo-Confucianism alone.

Zhu Youxiao only found this funny because these scholars and officials themselves could not "preserve the laws of nature and eliminate human desires". They abide by Zhu Zi's studies, but they asked the court and the people of the world to abide by their own ways.

What Zhu Youxiao had to admit is that in many cases, what restricts the development of Chinese Han culture is often the orthodox literati themselves and prevents development.

These people will not know how many directors, stars and online writers they despise now will support in future generations.

Although many civil servants and literati oppose the promotion of miscellaneous slogans in the name of the official, this does not hinder Zhu Youxiao's new policy in the field of culture.

Because the books and works promoted by Zhu Youxiao are not to cater to the interests of literati and doctors, but to guide literati to create more and expose the ugly side of their powerful and noble gentry class, and to enlighten the wisdom of the people and achieve the purpose of combining education and entertainment for the lower class.

In other words, it is to guide the literati to serve the people and the country.

In terms of serving the country, we are creating more works with the ability to disseminate and assimilate to enhance the cultural influence of the Ming Empire.

Zhu Youxiao was very clear about how some countries in later generations used cultural works such as animation, film and television to influence young people from other countries.

Moreover, in Zhu Youxiao's opinion, many literati are not good at eight-legged articles, and therefore are frustrated in the imperial examination. These people often become dissatisfied with the court.

Therefore, he believed that the emperor could use this method to let Chongwen Temple recommend literati with excellent works to enter the Hanlin Academy every year to reduce their dissatisfaction with the court, and at the same time give them hope so that they will not be so desperate because of the failure of the imperial examination, so as to achieve the goal of promoting long-term stability of the empire, and also promote the prosperity of the imperial culture. Why not do it?
Chapter completed!