Jingguo Cabinet, Left Prime Minister's Pavilion.
The new Cabinet had been successfully built. It was located in the northeast of the palace and occupied a much larger area than any other government office.
The Left Prime Minister's Pavilion occupied the largest space in the Cabinet. The side hall of the Left Prime Minister's Pavilion became the place where the Left Prime Minister handled his daily affairs.
In the side hall, more than ten officials of the Left Prime Minister's Pavilion stood in front of a table. Fang Yun was sitting behind the table and reading a document. It was about the family of seven in Gyeongo.
"What do you all think?" Fang Yun put down the document and scanned the crowd.
Li Zhixiao raised his head and said, "Prime Minister, in my opinion, the other party is an expert. They are obviously learning from Jingguo's' People's Daily '… the' war of public opinion 'that you mentioned. This matter must be settled. The impact on your Literary Name is secondary. The real problem is giving the other party an excuse to stop the reform and even destabilize Jingguo. "
Fang Yun did not comment.
Xu Changgeng added, "I agree with Zhixiao's opinion. Some things are just like what you said in Jingguo's court. Even scholars like us don't have true rationality and morals. Most of our words and actions are influenced by our emotions. The other party's methods are very clever. They have angered many people. No matter what you do, it will be wrong. Therefore, we have to choose the smallest mistake to make. "
"What is the smallest mistake?" Fang Yun asked.
Xu Changgeng looked at Li Zhixiao and hesitated.
Li Zhixiao said decisively, "Admitting one's mistake is the smallest mistake."
Fang Yun looked at the two of them and scanned the other officials. Finally, he asked, "Dong Yueqian, you seem to have something to say?"
Dong Yueqian nodded.
Fang Yundao said, "Go ahead."
Dong Yueqian said angrily, "We did nothing wrong. Why should we admit our mistakes?"
The other officials were stunned. Some of them looked at Dong Yueqian as if they were looking at an idiot. It was as if they were saying that it was an insult to Jingguo's officials that someone like him could be appointed to an important position. They did not understand why Fang Yun put him in such an important position.
Fang Yun nodded and said, "Well said!"
The officials looked at Fang Yun in disbelief. This was not something a qualified official should say.
Fang Yun smiled kindly and said, "A country's government has a huge inertia. Erm … Erm, I mean, the power of habit.... It's already very good that you can recognize and admit your mistakes. Although you just want to find an excuse to shirk responsibility, it's still better than not admitting your mistakes. . Dong Yueqian is right.. why should we admit our mistakes? Yes, everything in this world can't be measured by right or wrong, but as long as we admit our mistakes, then right or wrong will become the standard to judge. "
The officials frowned.
Fang Yun continued, "We can make up for their deaths. We can sympathize with them. We can feel regret, but we did not invade the Qing Kingdom. We did not maliciously kill their people. We did not initiate any form of resistance. In fact, we only retaliated. Not to mention seven deaths, even if seven million people died, we were not wrong! Gyeongo is the one at fault. The Qing Emperor is the one at fault. If we admit our mistakes, it means that our reforms are wrong! I am not wrong. I will not admit my mistakes. "
The side hall fell into silence.
Fang Yundao continued, "Back then, we Jingguo people were also starved because of the enemy's blockade. We were hungry, we were in pain, and we were angry. However, we Jingguo have never used people who died of starvation as weapons to attack our enemies. This is because of our incompetence. This is our shame. What we need to do is continue to develop our country and do what we should do. We will not cover up these mistakes or even crimes, but we cannot let those people die of starvation in vain! We will work hard to develop weapons to protect our country. We will work hard to grow food to fill our stomachs. We will do our best to ensure that no one dies of starvation in the future, especially those who have worked hard. I would like to express my deepest condolences for the deaths of the seven people in Gyeongo. However, as the Left Prime Minister of Jingguo, I will never stop my reforms! If something like this happens in Jingguo, the Emperor and the Cabinet should collectively admit their mistakes. They should not be complacent because they found an opportunity to attack our enemies. "
"Also, Gyeongo's incident has taught us a lesson and inspiration. I plan to set up a few new departments in the Ministry of Revenue, including the Food Emergency Department, the Disaster Emergency Department, the War Emergency Department, and so on. They will mainly focus on preventing and handling emergencies. The Food Emergency Department will set up a new department that can accept donations. However, all the money will be taken from the people and used for the people. The whereabouts of all the money and food will be announced to the public and accept anyone's supervision. Any officials who embezzle or embezzle money from the Food Emergency Department will be severely punished. There will be no cap on their sentences. The Fang family will start by donating one million taels of silver. "
"Yes!"
The group of officials glanced at Fang Yun, with deep admiration in their hearts, and left the side hall.
When they were some distance away, Li Zhixiao patted Dong Yueqian's shoulder and said, "Yueqian, I apologize to you. We used to think that honest people were too stupid and easy to bully. However, we now realize that many times, we are too shrewd and calculative. We ignore the real benefits and righteousness. You are stupid, but because of that, you are not affected by any other factors. You see the essence of the situation. "
Xu Changgeng said, "Yes, Elder Dong is much better than us this time."
The other officials nodded. Dong Yueqian chuckled and did not say anything.
Xu Changgeng said, "Zhixiao, let's discuss it. Let's publish an article on the rankings. It's not a counterattack, nor is it a statement. It's just an expression of our Left Minister's Office's attitude."
"Okay!"
That night, Xu Changgeng published an article on the rankings. In addition to the name that was automatically marked at the end of the article, he also added his official position in the Left Minister's Office.
At the beginning of the article, he only explained the ins and outs of the matter. Later on, Xu Changgeng quoted Fang Yun's words.
Finally, Xu Changgeng expressed his own opinion.
"A family committed suicide because they could not eat. At any time or place, this should not be a reason to stop the reform. On the contrary, it should be a reason to continue the reform. If this happened in any country, it would be a disgrace to the entire country's governing body. It should not be a political achievement. If a normal country encountered such a situation, they should investigate whether the officials in the family of the deceased were corrupt or not. They should also reflect on why the local government did not let them live. As an official of Jingguo, I say the above. As an ordinary scholar, I want to say that the death of seven members of the Gyeongo family was used as an excuse to attack and humiliate our Jingguo's Left Minister. On the other hand, our Jingguo's Left Minister used this as an excuse to reform and set up a new emergency department to ensure that such a thing would not happen in Jingguo. Perhaps, this is the difference between being a person and being an official. To put it bluntly, looking back at the way the two countries handled this matter, I have a feeling that the people who died were Jingguo citizens. "
When this article was published, it was like Mount Tai falling into the sea, setting off huge waves.
A large number of Gyeongo citizens were enraged and attacked Jingguo's Left Minister's Office and Fang Yun.
However, this was equivalent to blowing the horn to fight back against Gyeongo. Scholars from all over the world used Fang Yun's article as a basis to criticize Gyeongo.
Later, tens of thousands of people replied with the same sentence in unison.
"Fang Yun set up the emergency department because of this incident. What did Gyeongo's emperor and officials do?"
When the number of replies exceeded 100,000, fewer and fewer Gyeongo citizens attacked Fang Yun and Jingguo.
In the end, Zhang Poyue replied.
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