Xinshun 1730

Chapter 483 The Powerhouse Within the Limits of the Times

In the case of reforming the system based on the past, borrowing the past to satirize the present, and forging ancient books of the pre-Qin period, etc., the officials from the imperial examination in Dashun can be said to have experienced many battles and seen a lot.

Especially in the context of Dashun where Zhu Zixue has been broken, utilitarianism has not yet been established, and new semi-sages have not yet emerged, cases of relying on the ancients to express their ambitions and forging ancient books of the pre-Qin period are also emerging in endlessly.

When Liu Yu brought back some Japanese sinology books from Nagasaki back then, "Seven Classics and Mencius Kaowen" caused a small sensation, and Dazai Harutai's forged ancient book "Zhanyu·Economy Records" was also due to the extremely high level of forgery. Gao, quite pre-Qin Wenhua, was observed by the literati of Dashun for a while.

But after observing and researching around, they finally came to a conclusion: the words in it were very useful, but they accidentally used the words and sentences in "Historical Records", and the falsification was not in place. Even if this book is not completely forged, at least it is not earlier than the Han Dynasty. , It is not an ancient book of the pre-Qin period at all.

Song PingHuiZhen said he was a madman, but he really did not wrong him. The famous Ako incident more than 30 years ago led to the rise of the ancient school, which proved that Zhu Zixue, born under the background of great unification, was not acclimatized in Japan under the enfeoffment system.Dazai Harutai really broke out some shocking words in the big debate of this incident.

To put it simply, the shogunate wanted to welcome the emperor, and the feudal lord of the Ako clan, Nagamo Asano, was chosen to receive him.Asano Nagamo is a land turtle feudal lord who doesn't understand the complicated etiquette at all, so he asks Yoshio Kira, who understands etiquette, for help.

I don't know if it's because of nervousness or what, but the etiquette is not in place, it's embarrassing.Asano Nagamo felt that Yoshio Kira was deliberately punishing him and embarrassing him, so he drew his sword and killed Yoshio Kira.

The shogunate has the "Regulations on Punishment for Quarrels and Fights", which means that samurai quarrel, as long as two people use their knives, they will each hit fifty big boards according to the punishment for fighting, and they will lose their fiefs.

20 years ago, the shogunate Masatoshi Hotta was assassinated. He knew that the people sent by the shogun wanted to kill them, the real power faction, and hired Confucian scholars to take power. After being assassinated, the first thing he did was to take out his own The knife shouted: You testify, I did not draw the knife, I am not fighting.Then die.

Yoshio Kira also learned from Masatoshi Hotta, and he didn't fight back even if he was slashed.This does not apply to the "Regulations on Punishment for Quarrels and Fights". In addition, this is entertaining the emperor, which is regarded as "disgraceful before the imperial court", so the shogunate ordered Nagamo Asano to commit suicide to appease Yoshio Kira.

After committing suicide, the feudal clan was withdrawn for major crimes.The Ako clan was so poor that they had already issued banknotes instead of gold and silver in the clan. The samurai were subject to a feudal system of personal dependence. Without the head of the family, it was tantamount to unemployment.In order to strive for leniency, Kaesong surrendered the territory in exchange for the shogunate's gold and silver at a high price of 1:0.6, which was exchanged for the banknotes of the Ako clan samurai.

However, the samurai with personal attachments had no way out, and changed from a food class to a working class. The more he thought about it, the more angry he became, so a year later 47 retainers conspired to assassinate Yoshio Kira.

It was just such a small matter, but it directly ignited a huge dispute between the ancient school of thought and Zhu Zixue.

Zhu Zixue was born under the background of great unification, and it was not acclimatized to the multi-level system of the vassal clan.

At that time, Lin Fenggang and Shi Jiuchao, masters of Zhu Zixue, said: In the past, the two sons of Guzhu refused to listen to King Wu's crusade and refused to fight before the horses.The second son seeks benevolence to obtain benevolence, while the scholars sacrifice their lives for righteousness.Although the size of the matter is different, the reason for emphasizing the righteousness of the monarch and his ministers is the same.

Using the behavior of the Chiho 47 warriors, it is compared to the second son of Guzhu Kingdom, Boyi Shuqi.However, the allusion taken is not starvation to death, but another allusion of Uncle Boyi blocking the eight hundred princes with his sword.

Therefore, those who take revenge are righteous men.

Under the background of great unification, there can only be one monarch.

But under the feudal system, the vassals of my vassals are not my vassals, and the vassals of my retainers are not my retainers. The concept of "jun" is too much. I use Zhu Zixue who unified "one monarch" to explain "feudalism with many monarchs". "In Japan, this is very contradictory.

Is etiquette greater than law?Or is law greater than courtesy?
The etiquette of the monarch and his ministers, under the feudal system, the orders of the imperial court and the feudal lord are contrary to each other. Do the samurai under the feudal lord obey the feudal lord?Or listen to the court?

Hagyu Sorai of the ancient school believed that Asano Nagamo was incompetent, he did not hack Yoshio Kira to death at that time, and he hacked people for no reason at all.This in itself is unrighteous.

The small righteousness of their retainers seeking revenge from the lord is actually a continuation of the lord's great injustice.A person who seeks great injustice with small righteousness cannot be called a righteous man.

Ogyu Sorai said that he was a school of ancient Confucianism, but judging from this matter, it is clear that most of them belong to the legalist school of criminal names.

But in any case, the two opinions of Zhu Zixue and the ancient school are considered mainstream.

But Dazai Harutai dismissed them as worthless.

He believes that these 47 warriors, judging from their actions, were not for righteousness at all.

It is because after withdrawing from the feudal clan, there is no food and clothing, and from living on food and salary to working part-time, I have suppressed a lot of dissatisfaction in my heart, which itself is an economic problem.

It is obviously seeking profit, not just seeking righteousness.

What is true righteousness?
If you really think that the shogunate, not Yoshio Kira, is the one who dealt with the unfairness, you can only find soft persimmons to pinch.

At the beginning, the gate of Chiho City should not have been opened, and the shogunate came to take over, but they refused to give it up, and went to war directly, fighting to the end, and living and dying with the city.This is righteousness.This is the righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period. Look at Wu Qi's plan before his death. How did the Mohists defend the city for the Lord of Yangcheng?That is called righteousness. The king's order is called to open the city gate, but that is not easy to do.

Or directly raise troops, [-] vassals raided Edo, killed Yoshio Kira in the street, and then committed suicide.

As a result, you were so obedient when you opened the door to offer the city, and then you lived in poverty, became dissatisfied, held your breath, and went to assassinate again.

After killing, he didn't run away or commit suicide, waiting for the shogunate to catch him.

Don't you just think that you have taken the commanding heights of public opinion and morality, and after the incident, you asked for attention in various ways, thinking that the shogunate can forgive you, so that you can vent your anger and gain fame?

This is completely just under the guise of righteousness, seeking profit for righteousness, taking chances, and chasing fame and fortune. Is it ashamed to be called a righteous man?

And this is completely influenced by Yamaga Soko's "pseudo-Confucianism", which contains too many tricks and calculations.Back then the shogunate was also poor, if they had given more taels of silver to those retainers, this would have been fine.

At the beginning, I just wanted to ask for "restoration" and "rehabilitation", and asked people everywhere to find people, but they didn't have enough money. This matter failed in the end, so many of the original retainers had the idea of ​​assassination.

In Dazai Harutai's view, Oishi Uchizuke, the leader, does things too contrived, and "is not a sharp person, not a hero".

Before deciding to assassinate, when I said goodbye to the widow of Asano Nagomame, it was like singing, and the nature of performance was too strong.

First he said, "I'm going to be an official elsewhere, please don't worry, madam." The widow of Nagamo Asano scolded him out of anger, because Yaoquanyuan took out all her dowry and paid salaries to the retainers. It was almost the same, at this time Oishi Neizosuke said that he was going to become an official elsewhere, and he would scold anyone else.

Then Oishi Neizosuke knelt in the yard again, and sent his final letter, saying that he didn’t want others to know about this plan... Harutai Dazai thought that this was definitely because he was thinking about becoming famous in the future. When people explore the story behind it, they feel more Artistic, suitable for moving to the stage.

And look at when Nie Zheng was assassinated, he didn't have such an affair with his sister, and he was not afraid that after the murder, his sister would not recognize her and her reputation would be buried.Dashi Neizang's assistant is not a sharp person.

In short, the core idea of ​​Harutai Dazai is one sentence: Dare to do Kira, dare not to work in the shogunate, bully the weak and fear the hard, coward; Nong is seeking fame; at first, he didn't want revenge, but after withdrawing from the feudal clan, he was unsatisfactory and thought about revenge, which was seeking profit.

This has nothing to do with the word "righteousness" at all, and it completely conforms to the definition of "righteousness without righteousness" mentioned by Mencius.

After evaluating the Ako incident, Dazai Harutai made use of the topic and put forward several ideas.

First, the essence of this matter is an economic issue. If the shogunate does not solve the problem of the personal attachment of the samurai of each vassal, and does not solve the problem of the samurai's outlet after the lord is withdrawn, similar things will happen in the future.

Second, the teacher Hagyu Sorai used the banner of ancient Confucianism, but in fact he did not follow the righteousness of Confucianism. Confucianism!

Third, Confucian Shido and Bushido must be alert to the influence of Christianity.Too many missionaries were martyred in Japan before, one after another died without changing their faces, one after another endured the pain of the cross and the stake without screaming.It makes many people feel very admirable in their hearts, and then feel that "died for martyrdom" is a beautiful and commendable thing.But the so-called "smart at the top and stupid at the bottom", in the future ordinary people will only see "death" but not the word "sacrifice". If you follow the path of "not to be beautiful if you don't die", if you don't think about "righteousness" at all, the trend of "death for death" will become a serious problem in the future.

Fourth, while encouraging Zhu Zixue, the shogunate disregarded the reality of Japanese feudalism; it wanted to emphasize Zhu Zixue's etiquette, but did not want Zhu Zixue's loyalty to the emperor.Really ridiculous.

Fifth, how many people can understand the profound principles of Confucianism?It is enough to set up temple houses and learn the most basic things of Confucianism, such as filial piety, loyalty and trustworthiness.No matter how advanced it is, speaking to the public, it is like playing the piano to a cow.Teach students in accordance with their aptitude, and those who can understand righteousness should continue to study more advanced Confucianism and understand righteousness.As for ordinary people, after learning the basic virtues of filial piety and loyalty, it is better to learn some crafts and skills, and it is useless to learn the righteousness of Confucianism.

Chiho and his group took risks because they didn't understand the righteousness of Confucianism, they didn't have any crafts and skills, and they couldn't support themselves when they were unemployed.

Not to mention that the shogunate also issued a severance pay, one must have the ability to do business, be a craftsman, or even be a farmer. As for being so miserable and unable to survive, the last group of people will get more and more angry. Will they take this road?

As soon as these ideas came out, the entire Japanese Confucian circle was in an uproar.

The disciples of Yamaga Soko, hurriedly publish a book to clarify the true meaning of Shidao, there is absolutely no trickery or calculation in it.

Lin Fenggang, Shi Jiuchao and other Confucian scholars of Zhu Zi quickly refuted the thinking of the ancient school.

Hagyu Surai of the ancient school also got a headache from anger, but he cherished his talent, so he had to say "chicken ribs, chicken ribs, it's tasteless to eat, it's a pity to discard them", but he didn't drive him out of the school after all.

In addition to the Ako incident, Dazai Harutai also ran afoul of the shogunate.

Said that the shogunate hastened to call themselves the king, the master said, if the name is not correct, the words will not go well, and when communicating with North Korea, it made it awkward.It really is "to claim the king without courage, and to return the government without limit".

It is also said that the Muromachi Shogunate, the Kamakura Shogunate, and the Tokugawa Shogunate are basically three dynasties.China can change dynasties without affecting orthodoxy. Is Japan afraid of changing dynasties?

Of course, the biggest difference between him and his teacher is their views on economic issues.

Ogyu Sorai put forward such a point of view under the banner of retro Confucianism.

[The difference between upper and lower is not to determine the superiority of the superior and the inferiority of the inferior.It's just because the output between heaven and earth is limited.There are few good things and many bad things.This requires human beings to distinguish between high and low, and use etiquette to restrain them, and people of what level use what things.This is only for social stability, because social production is limited. 】

[This thing can be money or etiquette.Restraining with money and etiquette, and using etiquette and money to constrain and divide into levels, there is actually not much difference in distribution.However, using money as a measure will make people morally corrupt; while using etiquette can maintain social stability. 】

[Since social production is limited, everyone wants good and not bad.But measured by money, morality is corrupt, so it is better to use etiquette. 】

Whether this point of view is right or wrong.

The purpose of putting forward the point of view is to guide the operation of society with this point of view, especially Ogyu Sorai, who is in a high position.

The result of this point of view is that we should be thrifty.

Solve the social crisis through the monarch's reasonable distribution; require everyone to be frugal, so as to ensure that limited production can satisfy more people.

Continue to push down from this point of view.

The most reasonable policy is to let the samurai return to the fiefdom, not to squat in the castle town, to make Japan completely self-sufficient, to restore the real feudal system, and to return to Ida.

Because as long as you squat in the castle town, urbanization will produce a commodity economy, causing money to replace etiquette to measure who should get what level of things.

Dazai Harutai, on the other hand, is just the opposite. He denies [the theory of limited social production] and believes that society is constantly developing, and it can be clearly felt that more food, more cloth, and more various goods are being produced.

Social production is not limited, but can continue to develop.

Extravagance is because of money, and luxury is human nature, it is the "law of heaven", which should be preserved instead of being regarded as "human desire".

The performance of extravagance is spending more money.The essence of spending more money is earning more money.As long as you earn more money and spend more money, it is reasonable and should not be criticized.

Moreover, he believes that the benevolence, harmony and righteousness of Confucianism should be separated.The essence of benevolence is to make the people rich, the so-called national wealth.

It is putting the cart before the horse to think that the implementation of "benevolent government" by the vassals and the shogunate means reducing tribute.A truly benevolent government should encourage farmers to become rich. The so-called [the rich will become rich through hard work, and the poor will become poor due to their laziness] is truly benevolent government.

He also used the Chisui incident to say [Since ancient times, monarchs and ministers are nothing more than trading in the market.The king gets his envoys with his territorial salary, and the ministers get his salary with his intelligence and force.The emperor buys his ministers, and the ministers sell to the emperor, so buying and selling is good and not evil].

[The matter of Ako was caused by the bad government of the shogunate.Samurai everywhere can only be sold to the local family, and cannot resell their wisdom and martial arts to others.Since the red ears are withdrawn, the minister can't sell it to another king, and he has nothing to depend on, so don't you complain? 】

He also criticized the samurai's attitude of looking down on businessmen, saying [Samurai laughed at businessmen, don't you guys ever buy or sell?Every year in the rice market in Edo, daimyo from various countries sell the most.In the middle of a business, but laughing at the businessman, the real name is also contrary to the practice. 】

We should advocate extensive trade among the feudal lords, samurai to do business, or learn some skills.He ridiculed his teacher Ogyu Sorai's idea of ​​"letting samurai go back to the countryside", thinking that it "moved against the times" and "ancient learning is to break Cheng Zhu's disaster, but my husband really wants to return to the pre-Qin period".

All kinds of weird ideas, so that when Matsudaira Teruzhen introduced that this is Dazai Shuntai, although Liu Yu felt that he was an outsider, he also had a lot of curiosity.In the past few years, he has been collecting information on Japan. He has heard of the name Dazai Harutai, and he has read some quite radical books written by him. books.

I thought that such a radical person would be a young man in his 30s and 60s, but I didn't expect to meet him here, and it turned out to be a [-]-year-old old man...

For Liu Yu, the first time he heard the name of Dazai Harutai in Nagasaki was when Dazai Harutai said, "Shintoism is not native at all, it also came from the Tang Dynasty. Since, like Confucianism, it is foreign, So why do you still believe in Shintoism? It’s all about being Confucianized.”

At that time, I felt quite curious, so I searched for some of his books.

　PS: Some views on mercantilism are not the thoughts of Dazai Harutai, but the thoughts of Dazai Harutai and his nephew.It can be understood as the butterfly effect feedback of Nagasaki Trading under the influence of Liu Yu's policy of "the number of trust cards remains unchanged and the ship becomes larger", as well as Dashun's abandonment of Zhu Zixue and the utilitarianism that has not yet been fully established.Probably just like what Tokugawa Yoshimune said about Liu Yu, he wanted Japan to be locked in Zhu Zi’s Taoism, and at the same time supported the opening of ports for luxury consumption, Liu Yu was the opposite.Zhu Zixue, after this battle, could no longer stand in Japan, and maybe Japan would take a path that had never been imagined.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)