Xinshun 1730

Chapter 562 Enlightenment Tool Man
Just when George Anson and Walter lamented that China has only static history, ignorance, darkness, isolation and barbaric children like pagan Greeks and Egyptians.

However, some people also expressed another impression of China in Europe at this time.

"China's system is the most perfect in the world."

"Where everyone is allowed to enter the palace, and write in the suggestion box what is to be blamed in the government...One can't think of a better government. Under this administrative system, it is impossible for the emperor to want to be arbitrary Yes, the lives, properties, and reputations of people there are protected by the law... The emperor cannot abuse his power, he must abide by the law, and it is impossible to harm those people he does not know and who are under the protection of the law."

William Chambers, the designer of Somerset House in London who later presided over the construction, came to China in this year as an employee of the Swedish East India Company, just like in history.

The purpose of this visit is that the Academy of Sciences in Dashun wants to build some Western-style houses.

It is not all Western style, but it must reflect the righteousness of the emperor's words that "practical learning is practical learning, and Western learning is Western learning. Practical learning is universal, and Western learning is my own. I have my own national conditions and cannot be trusted here." Therefore, it must be inclusive, Show some styles of Western classical architecture.

So he entrusted the Swedish East India Company to recruit some manpower.

The main reason is that the emperor did not want Catholic missionaries to monopolize these matters, and hoped to find some people from Protestant countries.

William Chambers believed that this was a good learning opportunity, and he also wanted to see China, which many people in Europe described as an ideal country, so he came to China as a special employee of the Swedish East India Company and an architectural designer trainee of the Beijing Academy of Sciences. here.

At this time, he was expressing his longing for China to Liu Yu who had come to greet them.

Liu Yu just got rid of the French who continued to slander Britain after disembarking. After hearing the translation, he was stunned and couldn't help saying, "Who is this idiot...uh, who said that?"

"French, François Arrouet."

"Who?" The name was a little weird, and he had never heard of it before.

"Uh... pen name, Voltaire. Your Excellency the Marquis."

Liu Yu snorted, and thought, "Everyone is allowed to enter the palace, and write down the things that should be blamed in the government affairs in the suggestion box... The emperor cannot abuse his power and must abide by the law." The people's supervision system?
Fortunately, I was born as a son of Xungui, and also served as a Xunwei in the Forbidden City, otherwise I would have believed it.

Chambers' eyes were full of the contented little star who had finally set foot on this "Utopia", and he blinked and blinked at Liu Yu.

Before the illusion was shattered, he said all the praiseworthy words about China that he heard in Europe, and his words were full of expectations, just like a Catholic who really touched the shroud of Jesus.

"The Chinese are the most moral. The laws of other countries are to punish evil. Only the laws of China are to promote goodness."

"I heard that in China, an honest farmer picked up a wallet full of gold coins and handed it to the government. When the emperor knew about it, he immediately rewarded him with a fifth-rank official and the same amount of gold coins. And if this were in France, the peasant would be miserable. The peasant must be heavily taxed."

Liu Yu laughed, thinking that this is not entirely wrong, the Jielie Memorial Archway should be considered a fifth grade, and the whole family is indeed exempt from tax after being hanged on the well.

"That's what Voltaire said too?"

Chambers nodded repeatedly, and it could be seen that he respected this great scholar.

Then Chambers made another small request.

"Master Marquis, where is Mr. Zhu Yuanzhang's tomb? I want to see this gentleman's tomb. He is a hero."

"Mr. Voltaire said that the ninth grandson of Genghis Khan forced the people to believe in Lamaism."

"And the hero of Buddhism, Mr. Zhu Yuanzhang, a wise general like Odysseus, led Buddhists to resist and win the religious war. He also promulgated the "Beijing City Edict", allowing people to freely believe in all heresies, without forcing Lamaism to reform. Believe in Buddhism."

"Such a hero, I hope to visit his tomb, this is a hero who supports religious freedom."

Liu Yu was speechless, thinking that indeed many people in the Enlightenment Age just sat at home and made up their own.

The magnificent anti-Mongol uprising against the Yuan Dynasty was suddenly described as the "Huguenot Religious War" they are familiar with, and this is also a talent.

Liu Yu resignedly said something almost the same as Walter who insulted China on the centurion.

"Some people. Take your own experience as the standard to measure everything in the world; use the things around you to judge the distant and unknown things."

"However, it is also understandable that people can't imagine things they haven't seen, just like people who are born blind can never imagine what red and green are like. People always add what they have done and experienced to on people far away."

"Ming Taizu is naturally a hero, but he really didn't lead Buddhists to resist the religious unification order. If it was just like this, he would not be blessed by the emperor. Don't use the European way to set China, or you will be disillusioned. Our heroes, and Your heroes don't mean the same thing."

"It's like our God and your God, written in Chinese, are both Gods, but don't think they mean the same thing."

Liu Yu is not very old at this time, only thirty.But Chambers was still young at this time, and Liu Yu's words were old-fashioned, as if he were an elder.

Although he didn't quite understand the meaning of Liu Yu's words, he still nodded with the attitude of a 16-year-old child, expressing that he would pay attention.

Liu Yu tilted his head and looked at the few people who were similar to Chambers, who had heard that Dashun was so beautiful, like a Utopia, and he thought that within a year, you would all be disillusioned.

Did Zhu Yuanzhang rebel against the order of religious unification?What the hell is this.

Shaking his head secretly, he actually respected these enlightenment scholars in his heart.

But this style of "borrowing the past to satirize the present" and "borrowing the outside to satirize the inside", as long as the conscience does not want the truth, and the practice of creating an ideal country for the purpose, he is really... too familiar.

The higher you blow it, once you see the truth, it will be harder to accept it after disillusionment, and even give birth to a kind of rebellious total negation.

Thinking that it would be sooner or later, I could only hey, and told the people next to me: "Arrange them to walk along the way. Don't some of them want to see the garden buildings of our Celestial Dynasty?"

"Take them around the south of the Yangtze River, Jinling, Suzhou, these places, and then go to the capital. The gardens in the capital are really far from those in the south of the Yangtze River. Anyway, my old man's duke's mansion is not the same as that in the south of the Yangtze River. Those gardens are incomparable."

The entourage responded, and Chambers shouted excitedly. He just wanted to see the Chinese garden architecture.After shouting, he felt rude and lowered his head in embarrassment.

Liu Yu waved his hand to indicate that it was okay, and then paid out of his own pocket to buy some souvenirs for these young people who will do civil engineering in Tsinghua Garden in the future.

The attitude of the Swedes is still very good. Under the temptation of trade profits and the vision of going to war with Russia, they can be regarded as responsive to Dashun's side.

Even if Dashun didn't send troops to fight against Russia, but after talking with Earl Alster for so long, Russia had to allocate part of its troops to the direction of Central Asia, which can be regarded as its best effort.The Swedes are still grateful.

As soon as these Europeans who were going to Tsinghua Garden to do civil engineering left, Liu Yu called the leader of the team and told him, "Keep an eye on the way. You can't go to Jingdezhen. You can't go to visit silk production and the like. Garden, then just look at the garden. Understand?"

"Understood, don't worry, my lord. It is imperative to be on guard. Besides, without us leading the way, these bastard faces can't go anywhere." The leader of the team was very clever, and he got to the point, and he also understood that Liu Yu was on guard. what.

"Okay, just understand. You should eat and drink along the way."

As soon as the arrangements for the civil and architectural affairs of the Academy of Sciences were completed and these people withdrew, Kang Buxiu, who had followed Liu Yu to Guangzhou, couldn't help laughing.

"My lord, that man named Voltaire has a lot of ambition. I listened to that boy, did he want to make a constitution and make an appointment with the king?"

Liu Yu smiled and said, "Zhongxian has good ears."

"Hey, isn't it all the same thing to use the past to satirize the present, to borrow from the past to reform the system, and to use the outside to satirize the inside? I was born in the Celestial Dynasty, and I have seen a lot. Reading his books and listening to his words, you can know his heart and soul. "

Kang Bushao has really seen a lot. This method of changing the soup without changing the medicine has been staged many times.

He also smiled and said: "In the past, Wang Jinggong explained the meaning of "Zhou Li", and said that "the wealth of Zhou's affairs is used, and the property is obtained from interest." He said "Zhou", but in fact he said "Song" , talking about his 'green crop method'."

"Westerners don't like to change the ancient system, but they seem to like to make up a 'Utopia'. But it's all the same, invisible and intangible."

"Tuogu and Utopia, but Peel. The pride of the Celestial Dynasty cannot tolerate an outside Utopia, so we can only look for the ancient 'Government of Three Generations'."

"Ancient Confucianism, old-fashioned, Neo-Confucianism, and Xinxue all want to 'restore the rule of the three generations'. The path to take is completely different. What is the difference between the 'rule of the three generations' and the 'Utopia' created by Westerners?" ?”

"This Voltaire used the past to describe the present, and the external to describe the internal. When he talked about China, he really wanted France to implement a system of constitutional law and a monarchy."

"The Celestial Dynasty has its own 'Government of the Three Dynasties'. Everyone knows that the governance of the Three Dynasties is good. The various schools of thought, Taoism, Confucianism, and Mohism all talk about the governance of the ancient times. However, the problem of the Celestial Dynasty is how to achieve the governance of the Three Dynasties, Great Harmony. world."

After finishing speaking, he looked at Liu Yu with a smile, and said in a low voice, "I have always known that you have the ambition to reform. However, there is one sentence that you must keep in mind."

"Please speak, Zhongxian."

"The Celestial Dynasty can't talk about the goodness of foreign affairs, and absolutely can't talk about it. You can only rely on ancient words and aspirations, and you must not learn from Voltaire and borrow foreign words. The Celestial Dynasty has its own national conditions here. This taboo is not only useless. On the contrary, it will cause great harm. Unless the celestial dynasty survives to the death and external oppression prevails in everything, it is not allowed to make changes by using extraneous theories.”

Liu Yu has also thought about this point, and when he heard this, Zheng nodded his head and said: "Zhongxian's words are reasonable. But it is also a big taboo to change the system from ancient times. I wanted to ask Mr. Zhu, but it is difficult for Mr. He to agree with the family."

Kang Buxi smiled wryly: "Young master, it's not because I don't do anything, it's really... If you rely on the ancients, then the words of this family can be taught, followed, and written, but they can't find the way of Confucianism. This is not the case. Wa country, as far as Wa country is in the name of Confucianism, the matter of criminal name, law and ink can be distinguished here at a glance."

Liu Yu also smiled wryly, "Is it so difficult?"

"It's not difficult. It's the words of Fa, Mo, and Huang Lao. Now there are only a few words left, but tens of thousands of words. It is easy to make up by borrowing topics and taking meaning out of context. Just like the son said that the Physiocrats in France have only one sentence: "Tao follows nature." ’, although I am not talented, I can still compose a whole system according to the meaning of the young master.”

"Another example is the son's family plan for the Wa Kingdom. The way of heaven has damaged more than enough and made up for it. If you use this sentence to make use of the topic, you can come up with the method you want."

"But Confucianism has already taken shape, and there are thousands of words. It's really not easy to take advantage of the topic and take meaning out of context. Now that the dynasty is broken but not established, everyone wants to be orthodox, so everyone's words will inevitably be picked on. Picking up Confucian righteousness can always be done. To pick out."

Kang Bulan thought for a while, and gave Liu Yu a simple example.

"For example, the Yongjia Yongkang School of this dynasty talked about utilitarianism. The Mohist scriptures also talked about utilitarianism. However, it is also utilitarianism. If you look at its core, you can know Confucianism and Mohism at a glance. Japanese Confucian scholars can clearly distinguish it, but how could it be impossible for this dynasty to be indistinguishable?" clear?"

"Wang Jinggong's method, everyone knows that it is the art of Guan Zhong's legal school. But you must also understand that it is Wang Jinggong who became the governor and decided Jinggong's new learning; but it was not because of Jinggong's new learning that all Confucian scholars obeyed and became the ruler."

"He has become a prime minister. He said that he derived the righteousness of Confucianism from "Zhou Li", "Book of Songs", and "Shang Shu". Who can say otherwise? If you don’t recognize it, you can’t be an official.”

"But since the Ming Dynasty, it has been different from the Song Dynasty. The prime minister of the Song Dynasty may be able to determine the righteousness of the world. But in this dynasty, unless the emperor says: This is the righteousness, and those who don't understand it can't be an official. Otherwise, it is really difficult."

Speaking of this, he asked Liu Yu in an extremely small voice: "Can you recognize the righteousness of the Frenchman Voltaire?"

Liu Yu didn't answer, Kang Bushao said in a low voice: "Unless the emperor says that righteousness is so, the emperor's power must be supreme in order for the emperor's word to be the law; and if the emperor's word is the law, how can it be possible to establish a constitution and make an appointment with the king? Paradox."

"I have heard that in France, since its king Louis XIV, the centralization of power is quite similar to this dynasty. The meaning of Voltaire is absolutely unfeasible. From my point of view, his words are popular in Europe, and even Sweden is also known, which shows that The direction of the people's hearts. If the righteousness is to be achieved, there must be chaos first."

"Young Master, you can take a close look at it. Stones from other mountains can be used to attack jade."

This can be said to be quite far-sighted, if others listen to it, they will definitely nod their heads in agreement and take it for granted.

But when Liu Yu heard it, he couldn't laugh or cry.

Xindao, I... I have already read it once.The problem is the conditions in France, and Dashun is currently at the peak of the dynasty, so it can't be copied at all, and it can't learn anything.

(End of this chapter)