"I, Liu, have indeed published some sensationalist tabloids and criticized some of the court's policies. However, His Majesty the current Emperor has also stated in the newspapers that the Great Ming is the Great Ming of all its people, and all its subjects have the freedom of speech, allowing them to discuss court affairs and offer suggestions!"
"If what I did today was at someone's instigation, then I can clearly tell all you esteemed officials that I, Liu, was instigated by His Majesty the current Emperor!"
"Or perhaps, you esteemed officials have already struck me, Liu, from the household registration of the Great Ming and no longer consider me a subject of the Great Ming, and therefore do not permit me to offer suggestions on the merits and demerits of the court's policies?"
"If that is indeed the case, then you esteemed officials might as well state it clearly, and let the onlookers, our fathers and elders, see how the court of the Great Ming goes back on its word, and how you esteemed officials openly defy the Emperor's will!"
Damn it all!
The torrent of nonsense from the benevolent Liu completely stunned Administrator Jiang Xinlong and the other officials, as well as the surrounding crowd of onlookers.
No, it shouldn't be described as stunned, but rather as completely incinerated, from the inside out!
When it came to thick skin, Jiang Xinlong, the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture on the public trial platform, was not inferior to Zeng Cheng, the Grand Secretary of the Great Ming. After all, this fellow had once served as the head of the Solun tribe's Farmers' Association and publicly threatened the princes and chieftains on the grasslands.
When it came to lying with eyes wide open, and turning the dead into the living, the officials on the public trial platform were all skilled. After all, this was a basic skill for navigating officialdom; those who hadn't mastered it were long gone, having been harmed by others.
However, even Jiang Xinlong, who considered himself to have extremely thick skin and to be very adept at talking nonsense, had to express his admiration for the benevolent Liu!
Where was this even skirting the important issues?
This was completely distorting the truth!
Alright, if it were according to the benevolent Liu's logic, then Qu Fu Jian Yi's actions of sending his women to be toyed with by Fuk'anggan, and establishing numerous harmful opium dens and foundling hospitals, were not only not wrong, but even meritorious.
While the act of creating sensationalist tabloids was a minor offense, in comparison, the benevolent Liu implicitly suggested that the court ostensibly permitted public discussion of state affairs but actually suppressed the people's voices more than it guarded against a raging river. This was simply a stab at the heart!
If the surrounding onlookers truly believed Liu's nonsense, then the problem would be enormous – His Majesty the current Emperor was extremely magnanimous, but this magnanimity was directed towards the subjects of the Great Ming. In comparison, His Majesty was far from magnanimous towards his officials.
Jiang Xinlong and the other magnates understood very well that if the benevolent Liu succeeded in muddying the waters today, then every single official present would be in danger of being held accountable!
In contrast, the onlookers were somewhat bewildered.
Were there flaws in the benevolent Liu's stream of nonsense? Of course, there were, but the benevolent Liu skillfully hid those flaws and focused on highlighting how the court went back on its word.
If no one pointed this out, the common people would naturally not think of it, after all, Zhu Jinsong had been a decent emperor over the years, and the common people acknowledged it.
However, once someone pointed out the possibility of the court going back on its word, the common people couldn't help but worry—
If the court went back on its word, what would happen to the land allocated to them?
If the court went back on its word, would their children have to pay for their education?
Further thinking, if the court went back on its word, would they be forced to return to the days of paying taxes while being oppressed by others?
The people of the Great Ming, who had only lived good lives for a few years, were most worried about such a situation occurring!
Fortunately, besides Administrator Jiang Xinlong and the other officials, there were also people among the onlookers who saw through the benevolent Liu's malicious intentions.
The merchant who had previously explained the importance of books like "Tiangong Kaiwu" and "Huqi Tujie" snorted and said to the people around him, "This traitorous Liu is truly shameless, distorting the truth like this!"
"The court permits us to discuss state affairs and does indeed allow us to offer suggestions on state affairs, but the Great Ming Law also stipulates that suggestions must be submitted to the Tongzhengsi Yamen in the form of letters, and it has never permitted just anyone to publish articles in newspapers."
"Moreover, how many of the articles in the sensationalist tabloids published by this benevolent Liu genuinely offered suggestions on the court's policies?"
"Apart from criticizing the court and subtly mocking His Majesty, most of the rest are dirges for the Jianyi barbarian chieftains. What kind of suggestions is this?"
"If this is considered suggestions, then he might as well directly say in the newspapers that His Majesty and the current officials are incompetent rulers, and that it would be better to invite the old dog Qianlong back to be emperor!"
The people standing next to this merchant were somewhat unable to understand.
"It doesn't make sense—if the benevolent Liu was truly wholeheartedly eulogizing the Qianlong family, then what was his motive? After all, when the Qianlong family was still in power, this benevolent Liu was also one of those who were oppressed, wasn't he?"
"That's right. He sent his two sons to sea. Is it possible that the overseas lands are better than our Great Ming?"
Listening to the discussions of the people around him, the merchant couldn't help but cough and say, "The reason why the benevolent Liu eulogizes the Qianlong family is that during the Qing Dynasty, the benevolent Liu could arbitrarily oppress you poor commoners!"
"Of course, although I have some property, it's nothing compared to this benevolent Liu. Moreover, with Fuk'anggan backing him, he could naturally oppress me arbitrarily."
"But in the Great Ming, whom else can he oppress? If he oppresses others, the government and farmers' associations will naturally step in. Can this benevolent Liu afford that?"
"Therefore, compared to the Great Ming, this benevolent Liu prefers the Qing Dynasty, understand!"
"As for overseas..."
At this point, the merchant suddenly spat fiercely and said, "This benevolent Liu has never been overseas, so he naturally assumes that even if the overseas lands are not as good as our Great Ming, they should not be much different."
"But he doesn't know that compared to our Great Ming, overseas is not just a gap between heaven and earth, but two completely different worlds!"
"To be honest, I now both hate this benevolent Liu for not dying and hope that the officials can revoke the household registration of the benevolent Liu's entire family from the Great Ming, and then throw them overseas so they can properly experience the dangers of overseas!"
A bystander asked, "Listening to you, sir, does this mean you have been overseas?"
The merchant nodded and said, "Indeed, I have been overseas. Although overseas lands can make money, they are truly not places for the poor."
"It's natural for us, the people of the Great Ming, to go overseas. Generally, no one dares to provoke us, as our dozens of naval bases overseas are not for show."
"However, for the poor people overseas, being unable to cover their bellies and bodies is the norm. Not having a full meal throughout the year is normal, and having enough to eat is abnormal."
Speaking of which, the merchant grinned and pointed to his chipped tooth, saying, "See this? This is the consequence of eating the barbarians' food overseas!"
The bystander asked in surprise, "You can lose a tooth by eating something?"
The merchant nodded and said, "I was greedy. I saw the barbarians eating something dark and called black bread, so I wanted to try it, thinking about how the barbarians' food differs from ours."
"The result was terrible," the merchant said with a wry smile, "It was full of sand and small stones! This tooth of mine was broken like this!"
The bystander then asked, "Is this because of a famine year?"
The merchant shook his head and said hatefully, "A damn famine year! Those barbarians normally eat this stuff. In a famine year, they can't even get this, so they just wait to die!"
The people surrounding him expressed disbelief. It was possible for life to be a bit hard, and it was not impossible to not have food during a famine year, and people starving to death was also normal. But in normal times, who would mix stones and sand into their food? No matter how poor, they wouldn't be this destitute!
The merchant continued, "Besides food, safety in those backward overseas places is also a problem. While it cannot be said that there are bandits everywhere, it's not much different."
"Last year, wasn't our Great Ming merchant kidnapped in Paris, the capital of France?"
"Paris is the capital of France and one of the top cities in Europe. Even so, people still became kidnappers there. You can imagine what other places are like."
Speaking of this, the merchant suddenly turned his gaze back to the benevolent Liu and said hatefully, "You don't know, do you? When the Qianlong family was still in power, those European barbarians massacred our Central Plains people in large numbers in Jiugang. But Qianlong said that anyone who went to sea was an abandoned person overseas and completely disregarded the lives of our Central Plains people!"
"Now that we have finally become the Great Ming, our Central Plains people can stand tall overseas, yet this dog dares to eulogize the Jianyi barbarian chieftains of the Qianlong family. He deserves to be killed! Even death by a thousand cuts wouldn't appease my hatred!"
While the crowd below the public trial platform was discussing animatedly, Jiang Xinlong, standing on the platform, looked at the benevolent Liu with a gloomy expression and said, "Benevolent Liu, since you say that everything you have done was at His Majesty's behest, then I will refute you point by point, so that you do not die with any regrets!"
The benevolent Liu's heart skipped a beat. Just as he was about to speak, he saw the锦衣卫 (Jinyiwei) captain beside Jiang Xinlong looking at him with a playful gaze. The benevolent Liu suddenly became afraid to speak.
A bystander asked, "Listening to you, sir, does this mean you have been overseas?"
The merchant nodded and said, "Indeed, I have been overseas. Although overseas lands can make money, they are truly not places for the poor."
"It's natural for us, the people of the Great Ming, to go overseas. Generally, no one dares to provoke us, as our dozens of naval bases overseas are not for show."
"However, for the poor people overseas, being unable to cover their bellies and bodies is the norm. Not having a full meal throughout the year is normal, and having enough to eat is abnormal."
Speaking of which, the merchant grinned and pointed to his chipped tooth, saying, "See this? This is the consequence of eating the barbarians' food overseas!"
The bystander asked in surprise, "You can lose a tooth by eating something?"
The merchant nodded and said, "I was greedy. I saw the barbarians eating something dark and called black bread, so I wanted to try it, thinking about how the barbarians' food differs from ours."
"The result was terrible," the merchant said with a wry smile, "It was full of sand and small stones! This tooth of mine was broken like this!"
The bystander then asked, "Is this because of a famine year?"
The merchant shook his head and said hatefully, "A damn famine year! Those barbarians normally eat this stuff. In a famine year, they can't even get this, so they just wait to die!"
The people surrounding him expressed disbelief. It was possible for life to be a bit hard, and it was not impossible to not have food during a famine year, and people starving to death was also normal. But in normal times, who would mix stones and sand into their food? No matter how poor, they wouldn't be this destitute!
The merchant continued, "Besides food, safety in those backward overseas places is also a problem. While it cannot be said that there are bandits everywhere, it's not much different."
"Last year, wasn't our Great Ming merchant kidnapped in Paris, the capital of France?"
"Paris is the capital of France and one of the top cities in Europe. Even so, people still became kidnappers there. You can imagine what other places are like."
Speaking of this, the merchant suddenly turned his gaze back to the benevolent Liu and said hatefully, "You don't know, do you? When the Qianlong family was still in power, those European barbarians massacred our Central Plains people in large numbers in Jiugang. But Qianlong said that anyone who went to sea was an abandoned person overseas and completely disregarded the lives of our Central Plains people!"
"Now that we have finally become the Great Ming, our Central Plains people can stand tall overseas, yet this dog dares to eulogize the Jianyi barbarian chieftains of the Qianlong family. He deserves to be killed! Even death by a thousand cuts wouldn't appease my hatred!"
While the crowd below the public trial platform was discussing animatedly, Jiang Xinlong, standing on the platform, looked at the benevolent Liu with a gloomy expression and said, "Benevolent Liu, since you say that everything you have done was at His Majesty's behest, then I will refute you point by point, so that you do not die with any regrets!"
The benevolent Liu's heart skipped a beat. Just as he was about to speak, he saw the 锦衣卫 (Jinyiwei) captain beside Jiang Xinlong looking at him with a playful gaze. The benevolent Liu suddenly became afraid to speak.